Video: Practice & Race Footage from the 2024 Paris Olympics XCO Test Event
 | Théo Meuzard brings you the XCO Paris 2024 Test Event on FullAttack. This Saturday was a training day exclusively, on the atypical site of Elancourt hill, with a 100% artificial mountain bike circuit designed on a former landfill. There was a rather calm atmosphere this Saturday since the day was closed to the public. On the program for tomorrow, Sunday, training in the morning and races in the afternoon with no less than 3000 spectators expected. |
| This weekend was the XCO Paris 2024 Test Event on the slopes of Elancourt hill. FullAttack was there to bring you the event up close to the action with Théo Meuzard. After the video of Saturday's training, it's time for the competition on Sunday! Empty and calm on Friday and Saturday, the hill of Elancourt shook for the very first time this Sunday to cheer the French authors, among others, of a triumphant male/female double. Among the women, Loana's success is complemented by the excellent third place of Pauline Ferrand Prevot. The Austrian Laura Stigger came to insert herself between the two tricolors. A little further on we find Line Burquier, 19th and satisfied with her first Olympic experience. Léna Gérault's race was unfortunately short-lived following a fall in the first lap. Forced to give up, she should be back for the World Cup final at Mont Saint Anne in two weeks. Among the men, Victor Koretzky seems unstoppable. After the XCC/XCO double in Les Gets two weeks ago, he won again in this test event, in the sprint with the New Zealander Anton Cooper and Nino Schurter. Jordan Sarrou takes 4th while Adrien Boichis, Mathis Azzaro and Titouan Carod follow from 8th to 10th place. Note that Adrien was taking his first steps in the elite and that he is proving that he is on pace to play with the big guys. Maxime Marotte is 23rd and Thomas Griot 26th. The latter told us on the microphone that he had relaxed his effort halfway through the race in order to preserve himself for the last two World Cups of the season. Joshua Dubau finished 34th. The public came en masse to support the French selection on the hill, which helped to give wings to the athletes while highlighting certain difficulties concerning the flow of the public and the circulation of the media. The organization, listened, took note of these observations and there is no doubt that corrections will be made for the real Olympic race. Marked by the passages, the circuit evolved a lot during the three days of this test event. The “stabilized” gravel settled and mixed with the earth, the brake holes appeared and with them a more usual appearance. This circuit nonetheless remains 100% artificial, but in everyone's opinion it is far from being without interest. However, adding uphill obstacles would make it more complete. Images of races, reactions from riders, you can discover it in the Sunday video! |
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Yeah, that guy sucks at riding bikes.
:/
In the sparse time he had between winning literally the biggest road and cyclocross races, and without ever specially training for it, by the way.
But yeah, let's shun the guy because he fell two times.
Obviously there's more to winning a mtb race than simply being able to put a lot of watts down. We all know that. Worlds was vivid proof of exactly that. Jumping on an unfamiliar bike and expecting to beat the world at a discipline he doesn't have time to practice hasn't been working out for him. How is that controversial?