Pinkbike Primer: Everything You Need to Know Ahead of the Snowshoe XC World Cup 2023

The 2023 race season nears its conclusion as riders have made their way to North America for the final two races of the year, first up is Snowshoe with another packed schedule on the cards this week. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the 2023 XC World Cup's seventh round.

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Race Briefing

After the season first kicked off in May we are heading into the final stretch of the 2023 season as the racing crosses over to North America and the first of two back-to-back rounds. Snowshoe kicks off the last rounds of 2023 as it follows a season full of drama and incredible racing moments.

Snowshoe first featured on the World Cup calendar in 2019 and has since hosted two further races with each time the World Cup has visited there has been a fresh elite winner. In the men's racing it's Christopher Blevins and Nino Schurter who have secured some of the more consistent results here although the top three elite men have also changed at every World Cup round here. For the elite Women, Anne Terpstra is the only rider to make it into the top three twice as she went 2nd in 2019 and 3rd last year. Rebecca Henderson is also a strong performer here as she went 4th in 2019 and bumped up to 2nd in 2019. Although both categories have proven that Snowshoe can be very unpredictable when it comes to the top positions.

As we head into the final two crucial rounds in the battle for the overall standings it is still Puck Pieterse and Nino Schurter who lead the rankings. For the elite women Puck Pieterse has managed to hold onto her lead through six rounds to currently sit just over 300 points clear of a charging Mona Mitterwallner. Mona comes into the final rounds with two back-to-back wins and is the biggest threat to topple Puck off the top of the standings. The points are far closer for the elite men as Nino Schurter holds a lead of just 98 points against Swiss rival Mathias Flückiger. Luca Schwarzbauer is looking like he could break up the Swiss one-two as he is around 120 back in third place. Jordan Sarrou is also very much in contention as he holds 1029 points in fourth.

In the two-week break since the racing in Les Gets we saw many of the top riders stay in France for the Paris 2024 Olympic test event. The race saw many of the fastest riders go between the tape on the fresh course ahead of next year's event and have a final test of strength before the final North American races. While not everyone would have been going flat out we did see a big performance by Loana Lecomte who stamped her mark on the course besting Laura Stigger by 39 seconds and leaving third-placed Pauline Ferrand Prevot the only other rider within a minute of the winning time. The men's racing came down to a big finish as Victor Koretzky backed up a World Cup win in Les Gets with the test event victory. Victor managed to just stay ahead of Anton Cooper by one second to secure the win in a very close battle to the line. Nino Schurter put in a good showing to complete the top three, four seconds back.

We hope that helps get you up to speed for this weekend's racing. Keep scrolling to gather more details to get you ready for round seven of the 2023 XC World Cup series in Snowshoe.

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What Happened at the Last Round?

After a short break following the wet weather washout in Andorra the XC World Cup returned in Les Gets with conditions that couldn't have been more different than the previous race.

After some first-lap carnage on a slippy wooden drop, Adrien Boichis built a solid lead that proved impossible to close. Riley Amos had a strong showing as he rode back from a crash to take 2nd place. Carter Woods had a final lap burst of energy almost catching 2nd place as he went over the line in 3rd. Unmatched on the climbs Samara Maxwell was unstoppable in the Women's racing. Samara Maxwell made a small mistake in the final lap but otherwise had an impeccable race as she was able to create some big gaps on the climbs as she secured her first World Cup win. Ronja Blöchlinger rode strongly with some real speed on the descents but it was not enough as she went over the line 24 seconds back. Ginia Caluori started off slow but quickly rode back into the race moving up to third place by the race finish.

Mona Mitterwallner continues the momentum from her win in Andorra as she dominated in Les Gets. The young Austrian rider proved she is just as fast in the dry as the wet after securing back-to-back World Cup wins. Puck Pieterse didn't have the power to challenge the race winner as she dropped back in the later laps and ended the day 38 seconds off the pace. Pauline Ferrand Prevot put in a heroic effort after being ill this week to still take a 3rd place finish at her home race in France.

France claimed another win in Les Gets as Victor Koretzky rode a perfect race to cross the line first. After some close battles throughout the eight laps, Victor Koretzky proved unrivalled on home soil as he secured his first win in 2023. Nino Schurter rode an impressive race as after recovering from an illness earlier in the week he managed to ride back from a rear flat to go only 17 seconds off Victor Koretzky. Vlad Dascalu was charging on the final lap and made up two places to end his week with 3rd place.




You can view the full Elite results here.

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Who is Leading the Overall?

After the sixth round of the 2023 season, it is Puck Pieterse and Nino Schurter who still lead the Elite overall standings.

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Elite Women

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Elite Men

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What's the Track Like?

The Pivot Cycles - OTE team takes you on a lap of a very muddy Snowshoe course last year.

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When and What Racing is Happening this Weekend?

With XCC and XC World Cup events all in one weekend it is a pretty stacked schedule, here is what you can expect to find happening this weekend.

All times EDT

Thursday, September 28
• 9:00-11:00 // Official XCO Training - Women
• 11:00-13:00 // Official XCO Training - All Riders
• 13:00-15:00 // Official XCO Training - Men
• 15:45-16:45 // Official XCC Training - U23
• 17:15 // World Cup Cross-country Short Track - U23 Women
• 17:50 // World Cup Cross-country Short Track - U23 Men

Friday, September 29
• 09:00-11:00 // Official XCO Training - Women
• 11:00-13:00 // Official XCO Training - Men
• 15:00-16:00 // Official XCC Training - Elite
• 16:30 // World Cup Cross-country Short Track - Women
• 17:15 // World Cup Cross-country Short Track - Men

Saturday, September 30
• 09:00-10:00 // Official XCO Training - Women
• 10:00-11:00 // Official XCO Training - All Riders
• 11:00-12:00 // Official XCO Training - Men

Sunday, October 1
• 09:00 // World Cup Cross-Country Olympic - U23 Men
• 11:00 // World Cup Cross-Country Olympic - U23 Women
• 13:00 // World Cup Cross-Country Olympic - Women Elite
• 15:30 // World Cup Cross-Country Olympic - Men Elite

Note: All times are local and subject to change by the UCI/event organizer.

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What's the Weather Expected to be?

Riders will have a damp start to the week's racing in Snowshoe, but the sun is set to come out for what will hopefully be a dry weekend of racing.

Thursday, September 28

A thick cloud cover with a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon // 16°C // 40% probability of precipitation // wind 9km/h

Friday, September 29

Cloudy with a stray shower // 18°C // 80% probability of precipitation // wind 6km/h

Saturday, September 30

Sunny to partly cloudy; a beautiful start to the weekend // 18°C // 20% probability of precipitation // wind 9km/h

Sunday, October 1

Sunshine; a nice end to the weekend // 20°C // 12% probability of precipitation // wind 9km/h

Weather forecast as of Monday, September 25 from Accuweather.

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What Happened Last Time in Snowshoe?

What started off as a fairly mellow Sunday morning with dry but albeit overcast conditions quickly turned into one of the most chaotic days of racing we've seen for quite some time. Earlier in the day Noëlle Buri took her debut win in the U23 women after a battle with Luisa Daubermann, home hero Maddie Munro was third. In the men, Martin Vidaurre Kossmann got back to winning ways but had to work hard for it, Bjorn Riley running him close with Mathis Azzaro.

There were some heavy hitters absent from the start list in the elites - names like Schurter, Lecomte, Prevot, Fluckiger, Stigger, Frei, and Sarrou all opting not to race for various reasons. The weather had also wreaked havoc on the track this week in Snowshoe, as a result, the longest climb and descent had to be shortened with the lap count increasing to compensate for the trimmed course length. The women's race started off fairly straightforward but towards the middle of the race things really began to heat up as the weather rolled in. Jenny Rissveds and Alessandra Keller managed to break free from Anne Terpstra and went bar to bar as the laps counted down. Going onto the final lap Rissveds fell foul of the conditions, slipping out on a grass corner which allowed Keller to pounce and power onto her first World Cup win. Rissveds would salvage second, Terpstra was third, Mitterwallner fourth and Neff in fifth.

For the men's race things went from bad to worse as the rain continued to fall and the track continued to get muddier and muddier. It would all be about survival. There were many potential winners and it was extremely hard to call even going onto the last lap. The eventual and somewhat surprising winner was David Valero Serrano, he'd steadily climbed his way towards the front of the pack and when push came to shove he was the man with the most left in the tank to break free from Titouan Carod, Luca Braidot, Christopher Blevins and Filippo Colombo.

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How to Follow the Racing?

Tune in to Pinkbike to catch all the Snowshoe coverage throughout the week with results, photo epics, bike checks, race analysis and more.

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