Can Samara Maxwell and Victor Koretzky repeat last weekend's UCI World Cup XCO victories on the fabulous Brazilian course?
Just 5 days after the first round, the second event in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series is returning to Araxá, Brazil for some XCO and XCC racing.
Last week we saw XCC World Champion Evie Richards take her first victory of the season, and Christopher Blevins of Specialized Factory Racing taking the win against his teammate, Victor Koretzky in the short-track on Saturday.
On Sunday, it was another Specialized 1-2 in the Elite Men’s XCO race, well, a 1-2-3 actually, with Koretzky taking the win ahead of Blevins and Martin Vidaurre. And in the Elite Women’s, Maxwell did one better than Saturday and took her maiden win for her Decathlon Ford Racing Team. It’s fair to say the WHOOP UCI World Cup opener didn’t disappoint!
But what about this weekend? When is it on, and how can you watch it? All will be revealed…
Can Samara Maxwell take her second victory in as many XCO rounds?
When is the 2nd round of the XC racing on?
Instead of the races taking place on Saturday and Sunday, this time the XCC races are running on Friday and the XCO races on Saturday. The timings of which are below:
Friday 11 April
- U23 Women XCC Race: 11:15 event time/15:15 UK time
- U23 Men XCC Race: 11:55 event time / 15:55 UK time
- Elite Women XCC Race: 13:00 event time / 17:00 UK time
- Elite Men XCC Race: 13:40 event time / 17:40 UK time
Saturday 12 April
- U23 Women XCO Race: 09:00 event time / 13:00 UK time
- U23 Men XCO Race: 10:45 event time / 14:45 UK time
- Elite Women XCO Race: 12:45 event time / 16:45 UK time
- Elite Men XCO Race: 14:45 event time / 18:45 UK time
The Specialized Factory Racing Team lads are looking hard to beat even this early on in the season
How can I watch the XC racing?
Same as last week, if you want to watch the Elite racing live and you’re in the UK, then unfortunately there’s no ‘legal’ way of doing so unless you pay for TNT Sports/Discovery+.
The U23 races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, however.
If you’re abroad at the weekend, then you can still catch all the action. Geo-blocking can get in the way of watching your usual streaming services from overseas, but a VPN (Virtual Private Network) can help you tune in as if you were back home in your living room. All you have to do is download and install a VPN and use a location inside the United Kingdom to watch the broadcast live as if you were back home.
Setting up a VPN is simple – just download, install, open the app and select your location.
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Our clever colleagues at TechRadar – who know a thing or two about such things – have tested hundreds of VPNs, and they reckon the best of the bunch is NordVPN. You get a money-back guarantee, 24/7 support, and it’s currently available at a knockdown price.
Who could win in Brazil, round 2?
The Elite Men’s racing wasn’t filled with massive surprises last week, and we’d expect a similar result after round 2, with the Specialized Factory Racing team leading the charge.
With both Christopher Blevins and Victor Koretzky in fine form it’s difficult to look past them for both the XCC and XCO races. Charlie Aldridge looked strong in the XCC last week, so it’ll be good to see how he fares having a race weekend in the legs.
In the Elite Women’s races, Evie Richards was tactically brilliant in her XCC victory – something that wasn’t even a target race for her. Samara Maxwell is the obvious candidate to do the double – if she’s got the legs, but Nicole Koller of Ghost Factory Racing had a brilliant weekend finishing 2nd in the XCO and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
And thus concludes our predictions and rider analysis, which are beginning to sound like horse racing form cards.