Well, it’s been a few long years but the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup is back! The iconic Canadian venue makes its return this weekend with a combined cross country and downhill event.
The last time MSA hosted an international-level event was in 2019. That year, the hallowed slopes crowned mountain bike world champions for 2019.
Bringing the world to Canada, and Canadians to the World Cup
Mont-Sainte-Anne is a unique opportunity for Canadian mountain bike fans and our racers. For fans, it’s a chance to get right in on the sidelines and watch the world’s best compete on home soil. For established Canadian racers, it is a rare chance to compete with the support of a home crowd. For newer racers, or those trying to step up to the world stage, MSA is a chance to get on a World Cup start line without the cost, often prohibitive for non-Factory riders, of traveling overseas.
The Quebec venue isn’t “just” a home World Cup, either. Up until 2019, MSA was the longest continuously running international venue on the calendar. Mont-Sainte-Anne hosted an international event – either World Cup or world championships – every year from 1991 to 2019. That included an unmatched three world championships events.
The courses have changed over the years, but the spirit of MSA’s XC and Downhill tracks remain the same. Raw, technical riding mixing high speed and punishing rock sections. La Beatrice on the xc course for and the newly-added Steve Smith on the downhill course are part of World Cup, and Canadian racing heritage at this point.
Broadcast Schedule: World Cup DH#7 & XCO/XCC #8 – Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. Aug. 5-7, 2022
Racing in Quebec starts Friday with Short Track XCC. Elite races will be broadcast all weekend live on Red Bull TV. Racing on this side of the Atlantic for one more week means fans can sleep in for once and watch racing live at a more reasonable hour than for European stops.
Aug. 5 – World Cup XCC #8
Elite Women XCC: 14:20 PST / 17:20 EST
Elite Men XCC 15:10 PST / 18:10 EST
Aug. 6 – World Cup Downhill #7
Junior Men/Women (Not Televised)
Elite Women DH: 09:25 PST / 12:25 EST
Elite Men DH: 10:45 PST / 13:45 EST
Aug. 7 – World Cup XCO #8
Under-23 Men/Women (Not Televised)
Elite Women XCO: 09:00 PST / 12:00 EST
Elite Men XCO: 11:30 PST / 14:30 EST
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…