Pinkbike Primer: Everything You Need to Know Ahead of the Araxá XC World Cup 2024

Apr 16, 2024
by Sarah Moore  
Evie Richards being chased up the winding climb. She d fade into ninth by race end.
We've got back-to-back World Cup rounds in Brazil to kick off the season.

We're headed to another completely new venue for World Cup XC racing for the second weekend in a row. This venue is located roughly seven hours north of Mairiporã, where the season kicked off last weekend. Araxá is known for its mountains, waterfalls and luxurious spa, and while it may not have hosted a World Cup before, it has hosted numerous international mountain bike races over the years.

This second race is another important one for athletes in the race to qualify for one of the 68 spots up for grabs to mountain bikers in Paris at the end of July as the qualification period ends May 26, 2024. You can read more about the qualification process here and learn more about how things are shaping up after the first round in our Things We Learned from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024 article.

We will see the Elite XCC take place on Saturday again at this round, as we will at all rounds that do not also host downhill. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the second round of the 2024 XC World Cup.



The track


There's limited information on the race course in Araxá since there's never been a World Cup race there, but both the XCO and UCI XCC course are "cut directly through a forest, combining flat, high-speed sections with fast, gravity-fuelled descents" according to the organizers. The red clay is fast-rolling when dry but turns into a slippery mud bath when wet.

The XCC course is 1.64km long with 52m of elevation while the XCO course is 3.76km long with 163m of elevation. The XCO start loop is slightly longer at 3.82km long.

photo

photo



Last round recap


The Elite men are off.


The racing in Mairiporã was all we could have hoped for after a long off-season, with tight racing on a fast track. Riley Amos and Kira Böhm kicked things off with wins in both the Short Track and Olympic distance in the U23 categories before the Elite racing got going.

Evie Richards and Sam Gaze proved fastest in the Short Track event on Saturday. Richards had a powerful last-lap attack that saw her take a 7-second winning margin, while Gaze out sprinted Luca Schwarzbauer at the line. Neither Richards or Gaze had the legs for a podium come Sunday in the longer distance event however with Jenny Rissveds taking her first World Cup XCO win since 2019 and Christopher Blevins winning his second ever World Cup XCO and first outside of the United States.

Jenny Rissveds rode a clever race and dominated on the second half of the final lap to cross the line a remarkable 27 seconds up ahead of Savilia Blunk and Haley Batten. Batten and Blunk battled for second place, with Batten crashing on one of the final corners and winding up with the bronze medal. A remarkable ride for Italy's Chiara Teocchi saw her take her first World Cup podium in fourth place ahead of reigning Olympic champion Jolanda Neff. It was a great day for USA racers with four riders inside the top ten.

Following the incredible racing from the women's field, the elite men took to the course in a tight and tactical race that saw over a dozen riders still together coming into the last lap. After several attacks failed to reward riders with any lead, it was Blevins' big effort up one of the steepest climbs on the course that was the move that stuck, allowing him to race solo to the finish line and win by two seconds ahead of Victor Koretzky, Filippo Colombo, Jordan Sarrou and Martin Vidaurre Kossmann.


Elite Women

1st. Jenny Rissveds: 1:17:18
2nd. Savilia Blunk: 1:17:45 // (+27 )
3rd. Haley Batten: 1:18:03 // (+45 )
4th. Chiara Teocchi: 1:18:16 // (+58 )
5th. Jolanda Neff: 1:18:27 // (+1:09 )
Elite Men

1st. Christopher Blevins: 1:30:00
2nd. Victor Koretzky: 1:30:02 // (+2 )
3rd. Filippo Colombo: 1:30:03 // (+3 )
4th. Jordan Sarrou: 1:30:05 // (+5 )
5th. Martin Vidaurre Kossmann: 1:30:05 // (+5 )

U23 Women

1st. Kira Böhm: 1:06:46
2nd. Ginia Caluori: 1:06:57 // (+11 )
3rd. Emilly Johnston: 1:07:31 // (+45 )
4th. Madigan Munro: 1:08:16 // (+1:30 )
5th. Valentina Corvi: 1:08:33 // (+1:47 )
U23 Men

1st. Riley Amos: 1:06:31
2nd. Bjorn Riley: 1:06:40 // (+9 )
3rd. Finn Treudler: 1:06:51 // (+20 )
4th. Luca Martin: 1:07:09 // (+38 )
5th. Luke Moir: 1:07:58 // (+1:27 )


2024 Overall Standings


Jenny Rissveds takes the first round of the 2024 season.
What a show for round one.

WOMEN
1st. Jenny Rissved - 290
2nd. Savilia Blunk - 232
3rd. Haley Batten - 196
4th. Alessandra Keller - 180
5th. Evie Richards - 180
MEN
1st. Christopher Blevins - 256
2nd. Victor Koretzky - 240
3rd. Samuel Gaze - 200
4th. Filippo Colombo - 191
5th. Martin Vidaurre Kossman - 190


Weather forecast


It looks like we are in for another hot weekend of racing in Araxá with a moderate chance of rain and thunderstorms, but weather clearing up in time for Sunday's Elite XCO.

Thursday, April 18 - Training
Cloudy with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm in the afternoon // 25° // 79% chance of rain and a 47% chance of a thunderstorm

Friday, April 19 - U23 Men and U23 Women Short Track
Mostly cloudy with a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon // 27° // 40% chance of rain and a 24% chance of a thunderstorm

Saturday, April 20 - Elite Men and Elite Women XCC / U23 Men XCO
A couple of morning showers; otherwise, partly sunny // 27° // 60% chance of rain and a 17% chance of a thunderstorm

Sunday, April 21 - Elite Men, Elite Women and Women U23 XCO
Mostly sunny // 29° // 1% chance of rain

Weather forecast as of April 16. Live updates from Accuweather.


Schedule

Eigth place for Alan Hatherly. He was lost in the mix at first before getting himself aquianted with the top ten.

All times Brazil Standard Time (GMT-3)

Thursday, April 18
• 11:00 - 17:00 // Training XCO

Friday, April 19
• 09:00 - 12:00 // Training XCO
• 12:00 - 13:45 // Training XCC
• 14:00 - 14:35 // UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup - Women U23 XCC
• 14:35 - 15:05 // UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup - Men U23 XCC

Saturday, April 20
• 08:30 - 14:15 // Training XCO
• 10:45 - 11:45 // Training XCC
• 12:00 - 12:35 // UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup - Women Elite XCC
• 12:35 - 13:05 // UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup - Men Elite XCC
• 15:00 - // UCI Cross-country Olympic - Men U23 XCO

Sunday, April 21
• 08:30 - 09:30 // Training XCO
• 10:30 - // UCI Cross-country Olympic - Women U23 XCO
• 13:15 - // UCI Cross-country Olympic - Women Elite XCO
• 15:30 - // UCI Cross-country Olympic - Men Elite XCO

Note: All times are subject to change by the UCI or event organizer.


How to watch

Kelsey Urban wasn t hanging about today.

Pinkbike will be providing you with the best daily coverage from our team of photographers in Araxá this week. Tune in to Pinkbike to catch photo epics, results, news, and tech.

For details on how to watch the 2024 World Cup Elite broadcasts in your country, take a look at our How to Watch the 2024 World Cup guide. U23 racing can be viewed on the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube page here.


Elite live broadcast times:

• Women and Men Elite XCC // Saturday April 20 - 12:00pm BST / 8am PST / 11am EST / 5pm CEST
• Women Elite XCO // Sunday April 21 - 13:15pm BST / 9:15am PST / 12:15am EST / 6:15pm CEST
• Men Elite XCO // Sunday April 21 - 15:30pm BST / 11:30am PST / 2:30pm EST / 8:30pm CEST




Posted In:
Racing and Events Pinkbike Primer XC Racing World Cup XC Araxa Xc World Cup 2024


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32 Comments
  • 19 0
 It will be very interested to see the course previews of this new circuit. Too bad Puck isn't there. Her pre-ride videos are always a treat.
  • 12 0
 If that's a reference to the last round, I didn't think it was bad. A few drops, a few rock gardens, maybe not the gnarliest but not every round has to be and I think that's an ok price to pay for having a new venue (especially one outside Europe). It was certainly tricky enough to cause a few crashes, anyway!
  • 11 0
 That and it made for some of the better races I've seen lately.
  • 3 0
 @beeeefkirky: Exactly! Everyone had a chance to win 'till the end. Was nice to watch!
  • 2 0
 @Hugou4BdaD: That's how actual pavement crit racing works, too. 9/10 it's won by someone in a reduced group.
  • 5 0
 Agreed. I appreciate some gnar in an XC race but if the track is too hard, especially super long climbs, the selections are made too early and the race is usually quite boring. Watching last lap attacks this weekend was sick, and so much more fun to watch than someone getting away on the 2nd lap and holding their gap.
  • 2 1
 @Hugou4BdaD:

So basically you'd prefer XCO be a 2-hour version of an XCC race?
  • 2 0
 @dlford: I'm not sure how you've come to that dumb conclusion, but if it adds excitement to the race, why not? It's certainly more entertaining than watching someone lead the entire race alone.
  • 7 0
 I just spent a month in Brazil in Minas Gerais and Rio state. It’s a different type of heat there. The temp may say 85 degrees and the humidity may be 60% but it’s the proximity to the sun that’s the killer. While training last month I rode about 1000 k and most of it was between 0600 and 1100 hours. The elite men and women are racing in the afternoon. 95% of the Brazilians aren’t riding mid day! It’s just too freaking hot.
  • 2 5
 I don't know man...our Carolina humidity ain't no joke either!
  • 4 0
 @preach: lol. I hear ya! But it ain’t that bad till July and runs through September. Down there, all year. You just gotta go experience it. I literally would lose 4 pounds on every ride over 40 miles even as I hydrated as much as I could. I did one ride last week, 55ish miles and 5200 climbing. It was all I could manage. Joseph Dunbar in Greensboro on Strava. Check it out. Also 25 miles 3200 climbing up Christ the Redeemer this past Saturday. Great photos
  • 3 0
 This looks like a rough course preview from a couple weeks ago: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nEFsteaiJI

Looks interesting! Hopefully it produces tight racing like last week's course.
  • 1 0
 Nice, great find! I'll add that in.
  • 1 0
 I sure hope they are doing work to make it more interesting. That could be done a cyclocross bike!
  • 1 0
 @aelazenby:
  • 1 0
 Track Walk by Pivot Cycles on the track. Will be interesting to watch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4n66QiM8g

They made some changes in comparison to last year, but the following video gives an idea of this year course..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTcxdTmUU4M
  • 5 3
 Will be interesting to see when it rains during slopestyle and they have to ride because of being paid appearance fee. swings both ways.
  • 3 0
 Hahaha dude what are you talking about? The riders having a guaranteed appearance fee doesn’t mean they’re now obligated/forced to ride regardless of the conditions and risk to their own safety. They’re not literal pieces of property with zero free will or autonomy because of a new contract stipulation.

Every event should have a backup plan for possible weather delays and should that have to be resorted to then they would get their appearance fee for riding then. Should the event have to be scrapped altogether they likely don’t get paid the appearance fee. They’re not slaves man
  • 1 0
 And if I’m wrong with my assumption of the appearance fee being paid based upon the event taking place and it is paid regardless, good. I hope I am. I hope that travelling to the event with the intention of riding is the only requirement. Doesn’t change a single point I made, you can’t force these dudes to ride in dangerous conditions just because they’re guaranteed a little extra cash.
  • 4 0
 And most importantly, you probably won’t be watching these races.
  • 1 0
 Looking forward to seeing the highlights though!
  • 2 0
 Honest question: Are they paid an appearance fee?
  • 5 0
 No, is the honest answer.
  • 9 0
 No, but they receive a decent salary. XCO is the only mtb olympic sport and gets a decent coverage
  • 3 0
 @winko: Yeah, you see Jolanda Neff and Nino Schurter in credit card adverts over here.

Sadly the mainstream media ignore DH and Enduro - even after Balanche became world champion Frown
  • 1 0
 No, that's Cyclocross......
  • 1 0
 Does anyone know if a replay will be available through MAX (for USA)?
  • 2 0
 The Mairipora race replays are available on Max, so I assume they will all have that option.
  • 2 0
 @Carrickk: Thank you
  • 1 0
 I was able to watch last round live on MAX without the add-on. I know the add-on cost is coming at some point but MAX had postponed that $ add-on due to tech problems. Believe it is still the case for this upcoming round.
  • 2 0
 You can find the complete races without narration on YouTube. Check it out!
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