Great tracks make for terrific mountain bike racing, and the Glentress venue had technical track features aplenty. Typically Scottish weather ensured that those features remained tricky to master at race pace, enhancing the race spectacle for the local crowds. 

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Pauline Ferrand Prevot was dominant in the women's race and won by a comfortable margin. The French rider now has consecutive XCO World Championships, adding to the gravel and XCM World Championships she won in 2022. France took silver with Loana Lecomte, while young Dutch rider, Puck Pieterse, earned a bronze medal. 

Multi-discipline riders rule supreme

The presence of generational cycling superstars Mathieu Van Der Poel and Tom Pidcock created great expectations for the men’s elite event. However, an organisational intervention triggered the ire of many riders and teams. It stated that riders with top ten rankings in any UCI discipline would gain promotion in the start chute, and Van der Poel would be the greatest beneficiary. Pidcock, who had raced UCI mountain bike events this season, was critical of the decision. 

2023 uci world champs xco prevot.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Without the UCI intervention, only announced after the women’s race, Van der Poel would have started at the back of the men’s field as the Dutch rider hadn’t raced UCI mountain bike events for two years and had no ranking points. It was curious that the UCI did not apply the same rule to the women’s race, where there were riders who had top-ten rankings from other UCI disciplines but weren’t afforded the same privileged starting benefits.

Changing of the guard

Van der Poel squandered his advantage by crashing on the first lap and retiring, while ten-time World Champion, Nino Schurter, took the lead. The Swiss mountain biking legend was attacked and passed by South Africa’s Alan Hatherly on lap two. The South African controlled most of the race, but Tom Pidcock was biding his time and launched an attack on lap five, which nobody could counter – or chase down. 

Pidcock’s climbing power and tremendous bike skills were on authoritative display at Glentress, and he eased to a dominant win, becoming the first British UCI XCO World Championship gold medallist. New Zealand’s Sam Gaze took silver, with Nino Schurter collecting a bronze medal. 

2023 uci world champ xco pidcock 2.jpg, by Liam Mercer

For British cycling to win the elite overall gold medals in UCI downhill and XCO mountain biking, a week apart, is a notable achievement and symbolic of the depth, talent and commitment amongst British riders. 

Italian road bike brand, Pinarello, also had a great weekend in Scotland. Its new Dogma XC HT was ridden to victory in a spectacularly successful product debut by Pauline Ferrand Prevot, while Pidcock’s gold medal was secured on Pinarello’s dual-suspension Dogma XC.  

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