Carnival atmosphere as UCI Mountain Bike World Series starts in Mairipora

After a long, six-month wait, the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series is set to get underway in Mairipora, Brazil for the first race of the season this weekend.

If the last time the UCI World Cup visited Brazil is anything to go by – the 2022 season opener in Petropolis – the riders can expect a carnival atmosphere as passionate local fans line the course and bring some Latin American noise.

Although it hasn’t featured in the UCI Mountain Bike World Series before, Mairipora won’t be new to some of the field, having hosted high-level cross-country races since 2019, including last week’s UCI Class C1 race at the MTB Festival.

An hour north of the centre of Sao Paulo on the South American country’s south coast, it’s the first of a Brazilian Cross-country double header – the first time a country has hosted back-to-back UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country Olympic World Cup (XCO) races at different venues since Canada (Bromont and Mont-Sainte-Anne) in 2009.

Up next is another new venue, with the mountainous Minas Gerais region’s Araxa hosting round two a week after the dust has settled at Mairipora’s Arena iMTB Bike Park.

The Mairipora course is designed to promote overtaking and close racing, making it a fitting location for the opening UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) and UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) races of the year – if one thing’s for sure, fireworks are guaranteed.

The first race after a long off-season can make picking favourites for the race difficult, but in the women’s Cross-country, Austrian Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing Team) and Frenchwoman Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) are likely to resume their battle for supremacy.

Meanwhile in the men’s field, Switzerland’s Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) is still the man to beat. The 37-year-old won the last time the UCI World Cup came to Brazil in 2022 and claimed his ninth title at the final race of the 2023 season in Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Despite strong challenges by Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) and Mathias Flückiger (Thomus Maxon) Schurter appears to defy aging, using his years of experience to overcome riders more than 10 years his junior, as seen in a third-place finish at the 2024 Absa Cape Epic.

Two riders who won’t be making the trip to South America include the 2023 women’s UCI Cross-country Olympic overall champion Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and reigning men’s UCI World and Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers), who have both decided to focus on the road instead.

Local fan favourite Henrique Avancini won’t be lining up in Mairiporã having retired at the end of last season, but will be on site supporting the team that bears his name, Caloi Henrique Avancini, is filled with Brazilians ready to shine on the world stage.

In the Cross-country field, reigning overall champ Pieterse’s absence opens the door for the likes of Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) and Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing Pirelli) to steal an early advantage in the women’s competition. In the men’s, Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) finished the 2023 season with a hat-trick of victories, so will be aiming to stretch his hot streak across seasons to make it four wins in a row.