The only off-road cycling discipline of the Olympics will take place on a 4.4km course in Élancourt, a small town situated in Paris’ southwestern suburbs. The relentless route is fast and physical throughout and includes 110m of elevation gain per lap. In addition to sharp, switch backing singletrack and adrenaline-fueled descents, the course has several technical features like rock gardens and jumps that could prove decisive in the race for gold. 

While Paris is world renowned as the setting of the finale of road cycling’s biggest race – the Tour de France – the French capital is less well known for its mountain biking. But this summer, the City of Love will also be hosting off-road riders as it welcomes the discipline of cross-country mountain biking as part of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics schedule.

Unlike BMX freestyle’s La Concorde urban park venue, an iconic landmark of Paris isn’t being transformed into an Olympics-worthy mountain biking track though. Instead, athletes will be heading 30km southwest of the capital to the town of Élancourt, and in particular Élancourt Hill. At 231m, it’s the highest point in the Paris region, and it’s reportedly possible to see landmarks of the city’s skyline such as the Eiffel Tower on clear days.

A former sandstone quarry-turned-landfill that was regenerated into a public park in the 1980s, the artificial hill was already home to a network of mountain bike trails when it was chosen as a Paris 2024 venue back in 2021. Since then, South African course designer Nick Floros has been put to work crafting a track fit for the Olympic Games. 

Floros has been responsible for the Cross-country Olympic (XCO) mountain bike courses for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and the UCI World Championships in Glasgow 2023, and his creation in Élancourt looks set to provide the ultimate proving ground in the race for gold.

The main course is 4.4km long, while its start loop is 2.2km and covers a lot of the same ground as the main course. The number of laps won’t be decided until the afternoon before the first day of competition, but each race is expected to last between 1-2 hours. Each lap features 110m elevation gain across numerous calf-burning climbs, and fast, adrenaline-fuelled descents.

Although the final Paris 2024 course is yet to be confirmed, it’s sure to be a relentless and physically demanding race if last year’s test event is anything to go by.

After a wide-open gravel start/finish straight, riders get funneled into a steep climb, which makes a fast start imperative. From here, there is a smorgasbord of features including flowy undulating sections, rock gardens, jumps, log-lipped step-downs and berms that will assess the rider’s technical abilities. The standout is a chunky rock garden about two-thirds of the way through the lap, where multiple lines provide riders with faster albeit harder paths.

The majority of the course is set on hardpack gravel, although there is a shorter section of rooty and mulchy woodland, which could become interesting if there is any rain.

At the 2023 test event, France’s Loana Lecomte and Victor Koretzky came away with the wins, but their domination isn’t guaranteed at Paris 2024 with Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), Nino Schurter (Switzerland) Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) and Puck Pieterse (the Netherlands) amongst the favourites for mountain bike gold at the Olympic Games.

The women’s event starts at 12:10 UK time on Sunday, July 28, while the men’s will be decided from 12:10 UK time on Monday, July 29.