The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are here and run from the 24th July to the 11th August. The main events for us here at BikePerfect are the mountain biking races and the XCOs (cross-country Olympic) scheduled for July 28th and 29th.
The women get things going at 13:10 on the 28th, with the men racing at the same time the following day. So what can you look forward to as the best mountain bike riders from around the globe battle it out for Olympic gold medal glory? Here's everything you need to know to watch and enjoy the XCO events…
The course
The XCO racing takes place at Elancourt Hill, located just a short distance from the Palace of Versailles, southwest of the Paris city center. The 36 women and 36 men chosen to represent their respective countries will battle it out on a 4.4km course based around pre-existing trails, transformed for the Olympics by South African trail builder Nick Floros. With just 110m of elevation gain per lap, the climbs are short and punchy, and it looks like a course that will deliver fast, close, and exciting racing.
The race distances will be determined just before the event and are based on estimated lap timings, so depending on the weather conditions, it could be around one to two hours of racing. You can check out the XCO course in the video below with US Cycling's Anneke Beerten at last year's test event.
How to watch
The TV coverage and schedules will differ depending on where you are based. For US viewers, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will air on NBC, USA Network and will be available to stream on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com. For UK viewers, the BBC is the place to be, with live and on-demand coverage across the main BBC channels or via the BBC iPlayer.
Elsewhere, Discovery+ is the rights holder for Paris 2024 and will show every moment of the games, with a total of 3,800 hours of live coverage across the entirety of the games. Discovery+ and Eurosport do require a subscription and you can find more information at Discovery+.
For Olympic viewers in a country with geo-blocking, with a bit of internet trickery live streaming is still an option. Using a piece of simple software called a VPN (virtual private network), gives users the ability to change their IP address and location. This means that you can easily switch your location to one that streams the event live, such as in the US or UK, and access free on-demand content or live-streaming coverage.
Setting up a VPN is as easy as downloading, installing, and selecting the location you wish to use. There are plenty of VPN choices, but our tech-expert colleagues at TechRadar recommend Express VPN for its ease of use and privacy, which starts at $6.99 a month. Other top VPN providers are SurfShark and NordVPN.
The US contenders
USA Cycling is fielding a powerful team in Paris. In the men's race, Riley Amos from Trek Factory Racing and Christopher Blevins from Specialized Factory Racing get the nod to wear the stars and stripes. Amos is the highest-ranked rider of the two and looks to have the best chance of getting the US on the podium. Ranked 7th in the World, he is the current US XC National Champion, with nine World Cup wins and 17 podiums. Blevins also has impressive palmares and the two-time US National Champ will be hoping for a strong performance.
Savilia Blunk from the Decathlon-Ford Racing Team and Specialized Factory Racing's Haley Batten are the selections for Team USA in the women's race. Blunk and Batten have kept former world champion Kate Courtney out of the team with strong performances across the season. Blunk has seven World Cup podiums to her name and an American Continental title, with her teammate Haley Batten boasting national titles and World Cup wins – the US duo are sure to be major players in the medal shakedown.
Team GB
The rescheduled Covid-19 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw tremendous success for British mountain bikers, with the current XCO World Champion, Tom Pidcock taking gold – Britain’s first-ever Olympic MTB medal. Former women's World Champion, Evie Richards, also finished a credible 7th.
Pidcock is scheduled to challenge for a unique double and will race both the XCO and the road event. However, having left the Tour de France early with Covid-19 symptoms, at the time of writing, it's still unclear if Tom will defend his XCO title. The other selected Team GB male rider is Charlie Aldridge, while Evie Richards will line up with Ella Maclean-Howell.
Other riders to watch
There are only a maximum of two spots per nation available in both the XCO Men's and Women's events. So competition for the coveted spots has been intense, and some of the best mountain bike riders on the planet, such as Filippo Colombo ranked 5th in the world, and his Swiss compatriot Lars Forster are missing out. Big names missing from the women's race are Kate Courtney and Great Britain's Annie Last, Last misses out by just two ranking points to teammate Ella Maclean-Howell.
On home soil, the French are fielding a strong squad with five-time World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Loana Lecomte. Lecomte won the test event at Elancourt Hill earlier in the year and we can expect a strong battle between those two. The French male squad has test event winner Victor Koretzky and World Cup podium regular Jordan Sarrou.
Elsewhere in the Men's XC, Nino Schurter will take to the start line for Switzerland, and we can expect a strong performance from Schurter – the GOAT of XCO racing. There will be no Mathieu van der Poel, having crashed out in Tokyo, the Men's Road World Champion is concentrating fully on the road event. Schurter's teammate Mathias Fluckiger, South African Alan Hatherly, German Luca Schwarzbauer, Short Track World Champion Sam Gaze, and Italian Luca Braidot are all noteworthy riders.
The women's lineup is also stacked with 2023 World Cup overall winner Puck Pieterse, the Swiss duo of current Olympic Champion Jolanda Neff and Alessandra Keller, and Australia's Rebecca Henderson all in the hunt for the podium.
I think a fit Tom Pidcock will have too much for the rest of the field and put in a dominant display to defend his title. In the women's race, Pidcock's Ineos teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is my tip for the gold medal.
Olympic cycling schedule
As well as the XCO racing, there's plenty of other cycling to enjoy at the Olympics with BMX racing – including Great Britain's Bethany Shriever looking to defend her title – BMX freestyle, road racing, and track racing. Here's the full cycling schedule...
