World Cup wrap up: Pal Arinsal, Andorra

After a month-long hiatus, during which the new world champions were crowned, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series returned this weekend with a wet and wild affair in Pal Arinsal, Andorra. The new rainbow jerseys on show didn’t get the best weather to show off in, with rain and mud making for difficult racing on the cross-country courses, whilst the poor conditions nearly completely curtailed the downhill.

All the events did manage to go ahead, though, and some big names took some worthy wins to kick off the final, busy part of the World Cup season. If you missed any of the action, here’s how all the races panned out in Andorra.

Watch: UCI Mountain Bike World Series highlights on GMBN Racing

Flückiger and Mitterwallner take long-awaited XCO wins as world champions foiled

The cross-country racing started off in the usual fashion with the short track (XCC). In the women’s race, the bunch was strung out all race, battling on the difficult course rather than waiting it out for a sprint. Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) took it on from the front, leading for the entire last lap to win ahead of Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The men’s race came down to a closer sprint, with XCC specialists Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) beating Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) on the line, with Jordan Sarrou (BMC) in third.

On Sunday, the rain made for some muddy cross-country Olympic (XCO) racing. The women’s race started aggressively, strung out from the get-go, with world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers) out front for the first half of the race. It wasn’t to be a classic Ferrand-Prévot solo raid, though, with the Frenchwoman fading and overtaken by the charging pair of Keller and Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing) midway through the race. Mitterwallner then attacked Keller on the final lap to go solo to the line, winning by 34 seconds, with Ferrand-Prévot fending off Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) to hold onto third.

© UCI Mountain Bike World Series

Mona Mitterwallner celebrated her hard-fought victory in the atmospheric surrounds of Andorra

The men’s race started similarly fast, with the big favourites pulling away at the front early on. On the second lap, Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) pulled away from Luca Schwarzbauer, and as it turned out, the Swiss rider would never be away from the front again. Flückiger was joined by Thomas Griot (Canyon CLLCTV) in the middle of the race but attacked him again too. His gap was never unassailable, but he put together a technically perfect and physically strong race to hold off the rest of the riders and take his first World Cup win of the season. Griot took second, whilst world champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) pulled out a strong final lap to sprint for third.

In the under-23 races, Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) continued her unbeaten streak in the short track, whilst Noelle Büri (BIXS Performance) ended Sofie Pedersen’s (Wilier Pirelli) clean sheet by winning in the XCO. In the men’s races, it was Adrien Boichis (Trinity) vs Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) all weekend, with the pair going 1-2 in both races. Boichis took the short track, whilst Amos came out on top in the XCO.

Hoffmann and Daprela win weather-threatened downhill

The elite downhill races very nearly didn’t go ahead on Saturday, with thunderstorms scheduled on the high-altitude course. After initially being scheduled early in the morning to beat the storms, they were pushed to the early afternoon to try and avoid the worst of the weather.

The women’s racers were mainly unaffected by the wind, with Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate) pulling out a blistering run to go nearly three seconds faster than the fastest qualifier and world champion Vali Höll (Rockshox Trek). The German had a flawless run, gaining time in the bottom section to take her first World Cup win of the season. Höll took second, whilst Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) continued her successful return from injury with a third place.

© UCI Mountain Bike World Series

Nina Hoffmann put together a flawless run on the difficult Andorra track

When the men’s racing got underway, the weather was beginning to turn. The first two-thirds of the starters got through unscathed, but the last wave - and the fastest qualifiers - had to deal with rain and a wet track on top of the already high winds. The times set early on were all extremely close, with only fractions of a second separating the top five. Multiple-time world champion Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) set a time that looked like it could deliver him his latest World Cup win, but he was then narrowly unseated by Thibaut Daprela (Commencan Muc-Off). Soon after Daprela’s run, the rain started, and none of the final riders could push it as hard as he had, a frustrating afternoon for them but a victorious one for Daprela. Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) took third and took the overall series lead.

In the junior races, newly-crowned world champion Erice van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres) took her latest victory, whilst Ryan Pinkerton (GT Factory Racing) finally got to step onto the top step in the men’s race.

Next up

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues this weekend (September 1-3) in Loudenvielle, France, with the next rounds of the downhill and enduro World Cups. Cross-country will return in Les Gets, from September 7-17, for a 10-day event that will see all the disciplines of mountain biking, including the marathon, unite in one World Cup for the first time in this inaugural World Series.

You can watch free highlights of all this weekend's racing over on the GMBN YouTube channel. Plus, head over to the mountain biking page on GCN+ to see what's coming up, and when you can watch it.