Mountain Bike World Championships: Tom Pidcock, Rachel Atherton and Evie Richards in British squad
- Published
Rachel Atherton last won a downhill world title in Switzerland in 2018
UCI Cycling World Championships |
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Venue: Various in Scotland Dates: 3-13 August |
Coverage: Watch the finals of 13 World Championships across seven disciplines over 11 days on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app |
Olympic gold medallist Tom Pidcock and five-time world champion Rachel Atherton are in Britain's mountain bike team for the home World Championships.
Pidcock won Olympic gold in 2021 and is aiming for a first world title in Glentress Forest, which hosts the cross country races from 8-12 August.
"It's always great to pull on a GB jersey and have some fun back on the mountain bike," Pidcock, 23, said.
Atherton will race the downhill in Fort William, Scotland from 3-5 August.
The 35-year-old's last world title was in 2018. Since then she has come back from a career-threating Achilles injury and also gave birth to a daughter in 2021.
Atherton won the season-opening World Cup downhill race in Switzerland last month, when fellow Briton Jordan Williams won the men's contest.
Williams, who won the junior world title a year ago, has graduated to the elite men's squad alongside Laurie Greenland, who was fifth at last year's World Championships in France.
Tom Pidcock is the reigning men's Olympic cross-country champion
Pidcock, who is joined by Cameron Mason and Cameron Orr in the men's cross-country team, is a former world cyclo-cross champion.
Although he focuses on road racing during the summer - he is currently inside the top 10 in the Tour de France - he takes time out to compete on the mountain bike and has won World Cup races in both the cross-country and short track disciplines this year.
Evie Richards, the world champion in 2021, is in the women's elite cross-country squad alongside Annie Last and Isla Short.
Richards won Commonwealth Games gold for England last year and has been on the World Cup podium this season.
Scotland is due to host the maiden combined UCI World Championships from August 3-13, with road, track and BMX among other disciplines in which rainbow jerseys will be won.
Squads in full
Cross-country men: Cameron Mason, Cameron Orr, Tom Pidcock
Cross-country women: Annie Last, Isla Short, Evie Richards
Downhill men: Laurie Greenland, Danny Hart, Charlie Hatton, Bernard Kerr, Matt Walker, Jordan Williams, Greg Williamson, Phil Atwill (reserve), Ethan Craik (reserve), Jack Piercy (reserve), Joe Breeden (reserve)
Downhill women: Rachel Atherton, Louise-Anna Ferguson, Stacey Fisher, Phoebe Gale, Harriet Harnden, Mikayla Parton, Tahnee Seagrave, Jess Stone (reserve), Rebecca Baraona (reserve), Chloe Taylor (reserve)