For the first time this year, World Cup racing is back in North America. Both cross country and downhill racers are descending on Snowshoe, W.Va. for a combined weekend of racing. Action starts Friday with the Short Track (XCC), before downhill on Saturday and XCO on Sunday.
Snowshoe kicks off a busy two-week stint of international racing on this side of the Atlantic. From West Virginia, most racers will head north to Canada for the iconic Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup. Many of the gravity crowd will then head west to Whistler for the return of Crankworx. At the same time, the Enduro World Series is hosting a trio of N.American events. Starting with Crankworx Whistler on Aug. 6-7, the EWS then heads stateside to Burke Mountain in Vermont and Sugarloaf in Maine the following two weekends. All this follows after both Canadian XCO and downhill national championships and U.S. nationals. Oof.
All the elite World Cup racing will be broadcast live from West Virginia on Red Bull TV. Check the bottom of this page for the schedule.
Cross country
Snowshoe is the venue where Catharine Pendrel raced her last World Cup last year. This year, it’s Emily Batty carrying momentum into America. Batty scored her best World Cup finish this year with a 10th in Andorra last round. She then carried on to re-capture her XCO national title at Hardwood Ski and Bike. Batty will be looking to continue that trajectory in Snowshoe.
Last year, it was Evie Richards taking the elite women’s win. The reigning world champion will be absent this year, with back issues being followed immediately by a bout with COVID. Instead, the Trek Factory Racing rider will focus on the Commonwealth Games in the first week of August.
The men’s race will also be missing a significant rider. Mathias Flueckiger is sitting out both North American stops. After his altercation with Nino Schurter, and the resulting backlash online, Flueckiger won Andorra’s XCC only to test positive for COVID. He’s taking time to get fully back to health before starting his season again.
That leaves Nino Schurter the chance to continue his quest for a record-breaking 34th career World Cup win. The Swiss star was foiled in Andorra by Italian Luca Braidot. In Snowshoe, it could be Christopher Blevins challenging Schurter. Blevins took his first World Cup XCO win at home in the U.S.A. last year and will be keen…
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