The racing and spectator experience at the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets, France, were amazing, with huge crowds witnessing historic wins for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) and Nino Schurter (SUI) in the cross-country Olympic, thrilling downhill finals with victories for Valentina Höll (AUT) and Loïc Bruni (FRA), and mind-blowing scenes on the DHI podium with the French Elite Men’s clean sweep.
But it’s already time to look forward to an upcoming event on an unprecedent scale, the 2023 UCI Cycling Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland. The biggest cycling event ever staged will take place over 11 days (3-13 August 2023) and see 13 UCI World Championships contested in Glasgow and across the best racing venues in Scotland.
For mountain bike we’ll see the same amazing cross-country (XC) and downhill (DHI) as we did in Les Gets.
XC and DHI venues
The cross-country – including XCM – will be raced at Glentress Forest, in the Tweed Valley 30 miles south of Scotland’s capital city Edinburgh.
“Glentress Forest is known as being a brilliant destination for mountain biking and I think the riders and fans will be in for a real treat next year,” said 2019 Junior XCO UCI World Champion and Scots local Charlie Aldridge.
The downhill will be competed at Fort William, 100 miles north of Glasgow, in the highlands of Scotland. The course is one of the most mentally and technically challenging in the world. At 2.8km long, it drops 550m, with Elite riders hitting speeds of 80km/h. It’s rocky, with plenty of jumps and berms, and changes character with the weather. Fort William has hosted many major races and is a regular fixture on the UCI World Cup circuit, the most recent winners being Amaury Pierron (FRA) and Nina Hoffmann (GER).
What the UCI World Champions think
The 2022 Elite Women UCI World Champion for Downhill Valentina Höll is not only looking forward to a year in the rainbow stripes, but also to the unique opportunity she’ll have to defend the title as part of the 2023 UCI Cycling Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland.
“I think it’s amazing to get the opportunity. I really hope that we get to watch the other disciplines as well… I would love to watch the BMX and track, and other events. Mountain biking and cycling in general is the best thing for me. And every discipline which is similar and has two wheels is amazing to watch!”
Great Britain’s Danny Hart, two-time Elite DHI UCI World Champion (Champéry, Switzerland, 2011 and Val di Sole, Italy, 2016), knows what a special place Scotland is for his discipline.
“It’s going to be really cool! I went to watch the UCI World Championships at Fort William in, I think, 2007, when I was one year too young to race – that was a bit of a bummer! – but I always put a lot of effort into that UCI World Cup at Fort William. I’ve been close to converting it in the past, but I’ve never quite had the winning run there. It's been a little while since I have, so I'll go away like I normally do, and it should be amazing! Hopefully we’ll have nice weather and a great week.”
2021 XCC UCI World Champion Christopher Blevins (USA) draws a comparison between the Olympic Games and the 2023 UCI Cycling Championships.
“Last year in Tokyo we were in the Izu Peninsula, which they called ‘The Cycling Village’ so we had track racing there, the triathlon started there and so on… so in some ways 2023 UCI Cycling Worlds will feel even bigger than the Olympics because we’ll have all the cycling disciplines there all at once.
“I don’t think there are many sports that, when you bring all the different disciplines together, are so multi-faceted. Sure, you have track and field, which has 100m sprinters and shot putters and marathon runners, but cycling is similar in how different the disciplines are, and I think it will be a big celebration of cycling, for sure!”
UCI President David Lappartient said: “The atmosphere in Les Gets last weekend was extraordinary and gives us a taste of what to expect at the UCI Cycling World Championships next year. Fort William is a regular host of UCI events, but it will be the first time we take a UCI event to Glentress Forest, one of Scotland’s most renowned sites for mountain bike cross-country. Both these Scottish venues are perfectly adapted to welcome the world’s best mountain bike athletes and the traditionally enthusiastic fans. There is no doubt that the quests for the mountain bike rainbow jerseys next year will be very special as part of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships.”
Paul Bush OBE, Chair of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming athletes and fans to Fort William and Glentress Forest for the mountain bike disciplines at the first-of-its-kind UCI Cycling World Championships next August. These exciting venues reflect our pan-Scotland approach to the Championships and will show the world that Scotland truly is the perfect stage for events.”