UCI Mountain Bike World Series: Why revamped World Cup events are ‘the new Formula 1 of racing’

“Put your seatbelt on because it’s going to be flat out!”

Those are the thoughts of French mountain bike star Cedric Gracia, a three-time world medallist and part of Eurosport’s coverage for the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Series.

Speaking at Warner Bros. Discovery’s start of season cycling launch event, Gracia, lead commentator Ric McLaughlin and reporter Hayley Edmonds explained why the new era for mountain biking was so special.

“I’m extremely excited to be joining this beautiful team,” said Gracia.

“We’re going to have new technology in this beautiful sport. There’s going to be drones following races. We’re going to have some insane, incredible views.

“If you’re not familiar with MTB, mountain biking, it’s maybe time for you to start.”

Pressed on why people should start following mountain biking, Gracia continued: “For all those people, it is going to be the perfect timing because the riders are getting so into it, [there’s] so much training behind [it] as well.

“The evolution of biking is just exceptional for me. For me, it’s the new Formula 1 of racing.

“We have telemetry on the bikes. Everyone is working so hard to get that victory and you’re going to be able to see that on TV.

“I think it is going to be the first time we’re going to be able to bring you this, and I think this is pretty exceptional.”

“It is genuinely so exciting to be here as a lifelong fan of the sport to see it finally get, I think, the recognition and the coverage it’s always warranted,” said McLaughlin.

“I’ve been involved with this from the start. It’s been quite a struggle to keep up to date with just how much coverage we’re going to bring to screens this year.

“For elite-level races – you’re going to be on Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 but we’re also going to have a full complement of supporting services on the GCN+, discovery+ and Eurosport apps.

“We’re also going to have the UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, as well as launching this month GMBN Racing, which is going to bring even more rider [access], even more tech stuff.

“As a fan of the sport, there has never been a time when there’s been as much access to the pits and to those athletes as we are going to have. It’s just so exciting to be a part of.”

In a historic first, all the disciplines will feature at a single event in Les Portes du Soleil from September 7-17 as France hosts a festival of mountain biking.

“It’s an action-packed, dedicated mountain biking festival in Les Gets, Morzine and Chatel in France,” said Edmonds.

“This part of the world has the most challenging and exciting tracks. This is an unprecedented festival and we really can’t wait to share that with you.”

Schedule for UCI Mountain Bike World Series in 2023

How can I watch the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in 2023?

UCI World Cup cross-country marathon, enduro and E-enduro will benefit from in-depth highlights shows at every round.

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