I must say, hats off to the Brazillian. He is going to race all three XC formats. On the 6th he’ll take on the Marathon, then the 10th the XCC and finally give the XCO a whirl on the 12th. That’s pretty cool I think. I would love to see more of that if I’m honest. Many of the riders at the World Champs, let’s be honest, probably aren’t thinking they are going to win a medal. That’s not always the goal I suppose. Don’t get me wrong, they all want to win a medal, but their past form might tell them they are there to give it their best and see what happens. Of course they have to qualify for the Marathon and the others, it’s not like they just check a box and say “yeah, I’m feeling good, I’ll go for all three”.
It’s no secret Avancini hasn’t had the results these last few years that he once had. He was a monster at short tracks, and was often up front for much of the XCOs as well. For whatever reason though, he’s had a much quieter World Cup. He is still winning everything in his home country. So he’s not exactly sitting on the couch.
The Marathon seems to be successful for many XCO racers. Mona Mitterwallner took the gold medal, PFP of course did last year, many times the Marathon events are raced almost as an afterthought, and they end up winning the dedicated long distance specialists. So who knows, maybe Avancini has the legs and lungs to come out on top.
Visit the UCI to double check the schedule. I don’t see the Marathon as being an event that GCN+ is showing sadly. So I’ll have to just read about it afterwards.
