2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup update: Courdurier and Rude win Enduro overall

The 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup recently saw six specialities contested over ten days in the Haute-Savoie region of France. Here’s where they all stand.

Enduro: first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup trophies awarded

New to the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, the Enduro and E-Enduro competition concluded in Châtel on Sunday 17 September. For the seventh and final round of the speciality, riders tackled seven timed sections over 50km.

The Women Elite competition saw local French athletes at the fore: 2012 UCI Downhill World Champion Morgane Charre, 33, beat her compatriot and series leader Isabeau Courdurier (winner of four rounds) on the final stage by 6.87 seconds! Britain’s Harriet Harnden took third.

Courdurier won the overall (2707 points) to become the first recipient of the new UCI Mountain Bike World Cup trophy ahead of Charre (2495) and Harnden (1941).

In the Men Elite, Canada’s Jesse Melamed won his first UCI World Cup of the year, 11sec clear of home rider Alex Rudeau in 2nd who had a similar margin over the USA’s Richie Rude.

The third-placed American had done enough to retain the overall (2199 points) and become the first UCI World Cup overall winner, from Rudeau (1961) and Melamed (1919).

In the E-Enduro, over a 65km, 10-stage course with 4000m height differential, France’s Kevin Marry won the Men Elite Enduro Electric from Tigo Ladeira (POR) and Mick Hannah (AUS), after France’s Fabien Barel missed a liaison. Barel retained the overall ahead of Marry.

Florencia Espiñeira (CHI) won the Women Elite narrowly from Britain’s Tracy Moseley, with Ines Thoma (GER) third. Espiñeira wins the overall from France’s Laura Charles.

XCC and XCO: Doubles for Koretzky and Mitterwallner

Les Gets never fails to deliver drama and the latest round saw double wins in cross-country short track (XCC) and cross-country Olympic (XCO) for both Victor Koretzky and Mona Mitterwallner.

In the Men’s XCC, Koretzky led Jordan Sarrou for a home 1-2, ahead of series leader Luca Schwarzbauer (GER). Austria’s Mitterwallner –cross-country Marathon UCI World Champion – scored her first XCC podium of 2023, beating Great Britain’s Evie Richards and Alessandra Keller (SUI).

It was two in a row for Mona Mitterwallner in the XCO, after victory in Andorra. In Les Gets she got the better of Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse, with home rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot taking third.

Koretzky’s home double was special, beating the great Nino Schurter (SUI) and the hard-charging Romanian Vlad Dascalu who gave his all in the XCO.

After six of eight rounds, Schurter leads the Men Elite overall by less than 100 points from his compatriot Mathias Flückiger, winner in Andorra. Pieterse maintains a healthy overall lead in the Women Elite, with Mitterwallner up to 2nd ahead of Ferrand-Prévot.

In the U23s France’s Adrien Boichis also doubled up, winning the XCC from USA’s Riley Amos and Canada’s Carter Woods. In the XCO Boichis scored his second victory of the season, extending his lead over Dario Lillo (SUI) and Woods. Ronja Blöchlinger (SUI) won the U23 Women’s XCC from Samara Maxwell (NZL) and Noëlle Buri (SUI). Then Maxwell won the XCO ahead of Blöchlinger. They both close in on the overall leader Sofie Heby Pedersen (DEN), winner of the first four races.

XCM: all to play for

Morzine-Avoriaz hosted the third of four 2023 UCI World Cup rounds for cross-country marathon (XCM).

Namibia’s Vera Looser – former African Champion in the road race and individual time trial – won her first XCM UCI World Cup, beating series leader Lejla Njemčević (BIH) and Irina Luetzelschwab (SUI). Looser is now the only woman who can beat Njemčević to the overall title, while any one of five riders could finish 2nd.

Colombia’s Héctor Leonardo Páez – UCI World Champion in 2019 and 2020 – won the men’s 100km race from Italy’s Diego Rosa and 2021 UCI World Champion Andreas Seewald (GER). It moves Páez into 2nd overall behind Round 1 winner Fabian Rabensteiner (ITA) and ahead of his fellow Colombian Diego Arias, winner of Round 2.

Both the women’s and men’s competitions have had a different winner at every round so far as the riders look ahead to the final decider at Snowshoe, USA

Downhill: home winners

For Round 6 of 8, the downhill home riders were inspired by the fans’ chainsaws at Les Gets.

Marine Cabirou consolidated her return from injury by smashing the time of Slovenia’s Monika Hrastnik by almost 4 seconds to take the hot seat. When the last rider, fastest qualifier and series leader Valentina Höll crashed, the French rider – and the crowd – knew she had her first UCI World Cup win since 2020. Höll heads the overall standings from Nina Hoffmann (GER) and Cabirou.

If Cabirou’s margin of victory was commanding, Benoît Coulanges maintained the tension until the end for his first ever Men Elite UCI World Cup win. With the last run of the day he pipped Austria’s Andreas Kolb by 0.16sec, to follow Loïc Bruni (Loudenvielle) and Thibaut Dapréla (Pal-Arinsal) for three consecutive French winners. Bruni leads the overall from Jackson Goldstone (CAN) and Vergier.

For the year’s last round on European soil the Juniors’ podiums had a global feel. USA’s Ryan Pinkerton won from Jon Mozell (CAN) and Evan Medcalf (USA) while Colombia’s Valentina Roa Sanchez won from Sasha Mills (AUS), and France’s Laïs Bonnaure. Both winners head their respective overall tables.

While the Enduro competitions are over, the action continues in North America for the other formats: XCO, XCC and DHI all have two rounds remaining: at Snowshoe (USA) then Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, while the XCM concludes at Snowshoe, USA, on 27 September.