MTB XCO World Championship Course Preview And How To Watch

Thanks for the information Hannah.

Even watching that video lap above, where they were not really blowing or trying too hard is immense.

Such speed and control.

After watching the men’s road race on Sunday, I hope MVP can recover well and take to Pidcock and Nino etc.

I think it’s on GCN+ too. Not a huge fan of GCN but if the DH coverage was anything to go by the commentary will be far better than the beeb’s effort. Either way, can’t wait to see the race as the course looks superb.

But, my opinion is that this track looks pretty interesting.  Some sections could be particularly interesting if it rains.  It looks less like it’s designed to to stick together in the wet than some other WC tracks and some sections could change lap by lap.

Bloody hell, that course looks hellish. When I see XC racers out of the saddle and grunting up climbs like that is when I realise (like watching DHers) they’re doing a different thing to me bimbling around the countryside.

<p>I’m hoping that they leave it all open to the public after the event and don’t shut many of the features on the grounds of health and safety.</p>

There’s some photos of on Instagram of the XCO riders doing a gap jump in practice. I bet most punters wouldn’t do in on there 160+ travel enduro rig and full facer let alone on an XC bike in lycra! I remember that when enduro arrived the big thing was more relatable to average riders. I’d say XCO is actually now closer in technicality.

I remember that when enduro arrived the big thing was more relatable to average riders. I’d say XCO is actually now closer in technicality.

Indeed. XC of old (like 90’s old) often was more akin to what you’d think of as gravel terrain now – and I guess as the bikes were not a million miles off a gravel bike that kind of makes sense. Still brutally lung busting but not an inspiring watch.

This is a whole different level though. My only hope is that the it makes good multi rider action too. For me I struggle to get too excited about the time trial nature of DH. I used to really like the 4x concept and road racing only really comes alive when it’s multi player action. XC sometimes feels a bit too much of a precession with an ever expanding elastic band of increasing gaps to get that aspect properly exciting.

Disappointing that there is no legacy for this track in the current layout. Have the organisers accepted that we’re not able to ever host a UK XC World Cup?

Disappointing that there is no legacy for this track in the current layout. Have the organisers accepted that we’re not able to ever host a UK XC World Cup?

In the past I’ve said ‘unlikely’ due to Fort William being a mainstay of the DH circuit and the unlikelyhood of them having a geographically separate XC round in the UK either on the same weekend or a different one.

However now Ft Bill is apparently getting the heave-ho; it could open the door for a tweed valley area XC (or elsewhere). Especially with the UK able to offer early or late season viability which the Euro mountain resorts cannot.

After reading about the “no legacy” then watching the videos, while this exact configuration will be hard to ride, most of the trails will surely still exist in some form, minus a small handful of “features”. So creating this course again may not be so impossible. Though depending on what rumours you believe, ESO wanted the XC in Innerleithen originally so perhaps we might see them make that happen for a WC in future?

I know I couldn’t ride some of those features

Couldn’t or wouldn’t?

Personally, I wouldn’t do many of them if I was on my own but if it was in a race weekend situation or it was a busy day with plenty people around then I have definitely done these size features before and would again.

Also, would it make a difference if the gaps weren’t there?

It’ll be interesting to see if they put ramps in the gaps for the practice but take them away for the race this time.

The first long climb is absolutely brutally steep. If there’s the slightest bit of moisture, it’ll be near impossible to get up cleanly

Coverage seems pretty good so far!

Coverage seems pretty good so far!

Hmmm. Seems like there’s a lot of camera angles obscured by trees and those aerial shots from the drone are pointless as you can’t even see who the riders are. Hopefully it’ll be better come Saturday.

Tracy Moseley up this afternoon in the E-MTB – be great to see her get a result, she never stops grafting.

Reminds me of watching xc skiing – if you’re into the sport then you get it but otherwise might be a touch hard to enjoy..

Anyway Nino looking STRONG..

Assuming they all have motors with the same specifications

They don’t.

I’ve written about this on other threads and I really don’t want to start going through it all again but basically, top speed is limited, and that’s it*.  Apart from that they are free to throw whatever peak power/torque through the motor they want.

It shouldn’t be a thing until they put limits on the battery output.  Then it will be an actual sport.

*Please don’t make me spend three pages showing how Maximum Continuous Power is not a limit to output.

They don’t.

Ta….no desire to explore further here as clearly it’s been done to death elsewhere (I’d search for the thread, but you know…..pointless trying) but personally I find finding out it’s a thing a bit depressing – caving to bike manufacturers looking for product legitimacy at its finest.