In 2023, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) made a big deal of bringing cross country marathon racing under the World Cup banner. That meant a proper, unified series and an overall champion at the end of the season. It was exciting, even if it was a bit hard to follow. For 2024, the XCM series is back, but whittled down to just three stops.
The exciting part of that news is that Lake Placid, New York, will host the grand finale. The United States hosted the XCM final in 2023 as well, but, at the end of a longer series where most points were already decided, it did not attract as much talent as it should have (though there were some spectacular races, just with smaller fields).
With a U.S. final in 2024, the series will not be dcided yet. That forces all top racers to attend. And, with only two Euopean stops before that, it will also hopefully inspire more North American’s to head overseas to try their luck at the first two rounds. (Oceana is, as ever, stuck travelling all season).
The venues look great, too. Nove Mesto is always phenomenal, fast and technical racing. Haute-Savoie brings Marathon racing together with French racing culture. And Lake Placid is a brand-new World Cup venue, delivering a healthy dose of the unknown for series finals.
Should be an exciting year!
2024 UCI XC Marathon World Cup calendar
- 24-26 May: Nové Město na Moravě (Czechia), XCO/XCC/XCM
- 28 June – 7 July: Haute-Savoie (France), XCO/XCC/XCM/DHI/EDR/E-EDR
- 27-29 September: Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid (USA), XCO/XCC/XCM
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…