The Paris Olympic Games get underway this weekend with the ladies’s and males’s Mountain Bike Cross-country occasions happening on a former landfill. The high rivals have been blended of their evaluation of the Elancourt Hill course after their coaching runs this week, noting the free gravel and absolutely man-made course differs from what impressed mountain biking as a sport.
Former Olympic champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) voiced a unanimous evaluation of the course.
“It’s slippery, it is fairly free and fairly extensive. If you go quick it is tremendous slippery,” Schurter stated. “I hope the gravel nonetheless goes a bit to the facet and makes it much less free in all places. You can really feel there was no mountain biking earlier than and it is 100% man-made, like we noticed in London and in Rio. It may very well be a bit extra pure, however normally, it is good.”
The high Dutch hopeful Puck Pieterse already did a full preview of the course final yr forward of the take a look at occasion, so she knew what to anticipate but in addition famous the dry nature of the circuit will pressure riders to be snug with a bit of drift within the turns.
“It’s good. Last yr, we already had the prospect to familiarise with the course and race right here. They’ve made some small changes, however for the primary half it is the identical,” Pieterse stated. “There’s loads of gravel, which is slippery, particularly within the corners, so it’s a must to watch out.
“It’s a course during which you’ve got to have the ability to take loads of velocity into the corners and also you should not be afraid to float a bit of on the slippery floor.
“The technical elements come shortly after one another however it’s not such a protracted lap and there is not any lengthy three- to four-minute climb as a result of all climbs are interrupted with little issues,” she stated, including, “You should be good on any course.”
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Pieterse anticipated Pauline Ferrand Prévot to be the highest contender on her dwelling turf. “It’s in her dwelling nation, she’s the highest favorite, so that can put the stress on, however it could additionally give her wings. We’ll discover out on Sunday. I really feel as if I did every little thing I may, so that provides me loads of confidence.”
The British riders Tom Pidcock – one of many high males’s Olympic MTB favourites as defending champion – and Evie Richards weren’t as bullish in regards to the course, with Pidcock giving fairly a blunt evaluation.
“It’s not the perfect course on the earth however it’s the identical for everybody,” Pidcock stated. “It’s bland and I believe they may have completed a greater job of creating a extra mountain bike course.
“I really like mountain biking for the explanations that drive us to take pleasure in it. That’s the programs you get to journey, the locations you get to go to. When you simply gravel over a pleasant hillside, it is probably not mountain biking.”
Pidcock and Richards agreed that the course is much less tactical than those they encounter through the season.
“There’s not a lot pondering to enter both. It’s form of one line you simply go down,” Pidcock stated.
“There’s only one line. Normally you may select totally different strains,” Richards stated earlier than including, “It’s nonetheless technical as a result of they have a number of cool options, drops and jumps, however it’s man-made. It’s only one line, and also you race that line. It’s in all probability simpler to be taught, however simply much less decisions once you come to race.
“I believe they’ve completed the perfect they’ve completed. Being as shut as Paris, it is not the simplest factor to only pop up a mountain bike course anyplace. If I used to be a designer, I’d like much more pure options somewhat than man-made.
“But I believe we usually see that on the Olympic Games, it is usually a little bit of a unique course than what we might usually race at World Cups. We’re usually within the Alps, someplace, someplace in a pleasant ski resort and that is tremendous near the town centre. I believe they’ve completed the perfect job of what they will do.”
Dull course apart, Richards is happy to signify Britain on the Olympic Games.
“The Olympics is all I ever dreamt of and that is why I obtained into sport. Since the age of six, it was all I wished to do. Not only for me, however for my household, for my grandparents, it is what we have all ever dreamt of. It’s not simply my dream, it is all my household’s dream come true. They’ll all be popping out to observe. Nothing feels fairly like representing your nation, particularly on the Games.”
Puck Pieterse’s course preview
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