Pinkbike Poll: Who Will Win the Val di Sole World Champs?
Everyone is chasing the rainbow stripes this weekend, but only one rider in each category will get the honour to wear them for the next twelve months. Predicting the winners for World Championships always seems more difficult than made predictions for a regular World Cup. On the one hand, we've seen riders like Kate Courtney, Danny Hart, and Camille Balanche come out on top and take the rainbow jersey for their country before ever having won a World Cup, while on the other hand, there are riders like Loic Bruni, Pauline Ferrand Prevot, and Nino Schurter that always seem to find an extra gear in the race for the rainbow jersey. It's one day and you have to be willing to put it all on the line.
You can get an idea of who is going fast from Qualifying results and from the Short Track / XCC results. Christopher Blevins and Sina Frei took the first-ever rainbow jerseys awarded in Short Track, without ever having won the discipline at a World Cup. This year's top qualifiers on the Black Snake, Vali Höll and Loris Vergier, were the top qualifiers in last year's World Championships race as well, and while both have won the prestigious race in the Junior category, neither have won the rainbow jersey in the elite category.
With a World Championships win, there's a chance to turn a disappointing season around. You can see our predictions for the downhill race here, but we've been wrong before. Who do you think will make it into the history books in Val di Sole?
2021 UCI Downhill World Championships
2021 UCI XC World Championships
Would you rather win the World Cup Overall or World Championships?
Bonus World Champs reading:
Nerding Out: Is the Rainbow Curse real?
Photo Epic: 100 of the Best Shots of the Rainbow Stripes from the Past Five Years
Photo Epic: XC World Champions
Author Info:
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Would love to see some more coverage!!
You don’t even have to win a race to do that although it might help if you did
C’mon Danny.
So outside people, listen up, mountain bikers don’t get SL that serious about shite like done other sports fans (football, basketball, baseball, etc..) because we actually participate in the sport, so if ya wanna kept he regulars interested, maybe spice things up a little, be silly, be crude, take chances.
Pinkbike readers are not the same folks who watch the Masters.