The UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country World Cups in 2023 have seen new players, impossibly tight head-to-head racing and history made.

As riders prepare for the fifth round of the UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country World Cup in Andorra this weekend, the overall standings in the elite fields reveal a mouth-watering showdown in prospect.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers)

Going into the second half of the season, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers) and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) lead the way in the Cross-country Short Track while Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Nino Schurter (Scott SRAM MTB Racing Team) have control of the Cross-country Olympic ranks.

Just 14 points separate France’s Ferrand-Prévot and second-placed Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) in the XCC while Schwarzbauer leads Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) by 180 points going into the fifth round. 

Nino Schurter taking another win in Val Di Sole, Italy.

In the Cross-country Olympic rankings, it’s multiple World Champion Schurter who leads the men’s field by some 122 points from France’s Sarrou. Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) trails Sarrou by just five points back in third. 

Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

In the women’s XCO standings, it’s Dutch debut elite Pieterse who leads the way by 296 points from Ferrand-Prévot who comes to Andorra in fantastic form fresh from a second consecutive World Championship win in Scotland. Austrian Stigger is another 110 points back in third.

Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing)

The opening Endurance race of the year kicked off in the Czech Republic in Nove Mesto na Morave back in May. 

In the elite women’s category there was a changing of the generational guard with two debut winners. Stigger won the Cross-country short track and Pieterse took a hard-fought victory in the Cross-country Olympic. 

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)

The elite men’s races were dominated by Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock who did the double. 

Lenzerheide in Switzerland followed and Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis Cycles Continental) and Schwarzbauer took the short track wins whilst Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) won the women’s Cross-country Olympic race.  In the men’s, it was over to Schurter to make history by taking a record 34th UCI World Cup win in front of an ecstatic home crowd. 

Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV)

The following week brought with it a very different set of circumstances as riders headed for Leogang in Austria. The steepest track of the year ensured that the racing would be all about the climbers. The French pairing of Ferrand-Prévot and Sarrou took the Cross-country short track wins whilst Puck Pieterse and Lars Forster (Thömus Maxon) won over the longer distance. 

Val di Sole Trentino in Italy was the next stop and the first chance for the Italian fans to see their Endurance heroes go bar-to-bar this season. Laura Stigger edged out Puck Pieterse in a photo finish in the short track whilst Jordan Sarrou won the men’s race. 

Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC)

In the Cross-country Olympic races, Puck Pieterse took another win, this time ahead of Martina Berta (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) whilst Nino Schurter scooped a 35th career win with Mathias Flückiger in second. 

After four rounds in the U23 women’s short-track it’s Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) of Switzerland leading the overall and in the men’s it’s France’s Adrien Boichis (Trinity Racing MTB) out in front.

In the U23 Olympic distance, it’s Boichis again leading the way in the men’s and in the women’s it’s Dane Sofie Pedersen (Wilier-Pirelli Factory Team XCO).

You can watch all the action from Pal Arinsal - Andorra across GCN+ (globally), on the Eurosport App, discovery+ and the UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel.

More information about the races taking place in Pal Arinsal - Andorra is available here.