The 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup powered by citymountainbike.com will kick off with two back-to-back races at two iconic venues, Paris and Barcelona, on 20 and 26 April respectively. These mountain bike cross-country Eliminator (XCE) competitions will set the tone for an exciting and more universal season than ever, with the 2024 edition of the UCI World Cup in XCE taking place at eight venues across three continents from April to November.
After racing in France and Spain, riders will go on to Indonesia (host of the 2023 UCI World Championships in XCE where huge crowds witnessed the victories of Titouan Perrin-Ganier and Gaia Tormena), then on to Türkiye (host of the 2023 UEC European Championships) and back to the heart of Europe with a round in Belgium. The riders will then resume their world tour in Brazil (reigniting the excitement generated by the first two rounds of the UCI World Cups in mountain bike cross-country olympic and cross-country short track) and India, before the season finale in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the beginning of November.
The global format of the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup will offer opportunities for new audiences to discover the discipline and for local riders to measure themselves against the international stars.
2024 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup schedule
Round 1 – Paris (France) 20 April
Round 2 - Barcelona (Spain) 26 April
Round 3 - Palangkaraya (Indonesia) 19 May
Round 4 - Sakarya (Türkiye) 26 May
Round 5 - Leuven (Belgium) 2 June
Round 6 - São Paulo (Brazil) 18 August
Round 7 – Bengaluru (India) 29 September
Round 8 - Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) 3 November
Women: Tormena against the world
Gaia Tormena, winner of the 2024 UCI World Cup in XCE and reigning UCI World Champion, has been putting in the pre-season miles. “I can’t wait to show off my rainbow jersey and be back on my mountain bike,” says the Italian. At just 21 years of age, she has already won the overall ranking of the UCI World Cup in XCE four times and starts the new season as one of the favourites.
Her closest competitors in 2023 were German Marion Fromberger (255 versus Tormena’s 313 points) and Dutch Annemoon van Dienst (144 points). The two young athletes, aged 23 and 21, are well prepared and seem ready to give Tormena a fight. Or even beat her?
Open competition on the men's side
The 2023 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup – like the UCI World Championships – featured a hotly contested battle between team-mates and long-standing rivals Titouan Perrin-Ganier and Simon Gegenheimer. Last year, the Frenchman got the better of his German counterpart by just 11 points difference over the whole season (218 versus 207).
2021 UCI World Champion and runner-up in the 2023 UCI World Championships in XCE, Simon Gegenheimer has been training hard in his bid to win the UCI World Cup this year.
“Keen to be back between the tapes and excited to see where I am right now,” he said.
Although Gegenheimer and his fellow Germans won’t be able to race the UCI World Cup on home soil, they can look forward to the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Championships in Aalen, Germany, on 13 July.
If it wasn’t for a fall in the final, Lorenzo Serres (190 points and third place overall in last year’s UCI World Cup) looked set to win the French XCE Cup a few weeks ago, but his misfortune worked in Perrin-Ganier’s favour. He will certainly be motivated for a re-match at the first round of the UCI World Cup in Paris.
“Very happy with this result regardless, the feeling is very good,” said Serres in Marseille.
Discover mountain bike eliminator with Joey Bradford, Eddy Steible and Marcela Lima
As XCE continues to grow worldwide, City Mountainbike – the organiser of the UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup, has launched a series of three videos explaining the basics and aiming to make the format more widely known.
Check out the videos, featuring BMX Racing expert Joey Bradford (USA) and XCE specialists Eddy Steible (FRA) and Marcela Lima (BRA).
Joey Bradford (in English)
Eddy Steible (in French)
Marcela Lima (in Portuguese)
Now, competitions await, starting this weekend. If you can't make it to the French capital for the opening of the UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup, the various races can be followed live on YouTube.