British Cycling has confirmed the eleven riders who will represent the Great Britain Cycling Team in the cross-country mountain bike events at the forthcoming UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
In the women’s races, Annie Last, the reigning Commonwealth champion and silver medalist from the 2017 world championships, will return to represent Great Britain in the event, which runs from 5th – 9th September.
The under-23 cyclo-cross world champion Evie Richards has made selection, having consistently finished on the under-23 podium throughout the mountain bike world cup season, while Harriet Harnden, winner of the silver medal in the junior women’s race at the UEC Mountain Bike European Championships last month, will take to the start line in the junior women’s race.
In the men’s events, elite national champion Grant Ferguson, under-23 national champion Frazer Clacherty and junior national champion Sean Flynn are amongst those who will represent Great Britain.
Commonwealth champion Annie Last said: “I’m looking forward to the world championships this year, the Lenzerheide course suits my strengths and I won the world cup round there in 2017. Unfortunately, my preparations haven’t been ideal in the run up to the race this year due to illness, but I’m coming back from that now and I’ll be racing at the European Championships in Glasgow on Tuesday which will be a good indicator of where my form is and where I need to focus my final preparations.”
British Cycling’s lead mountain bike coach Simon Watts said: “Eleven riders have been selected for this year’s world championships, and I can see potential across the squad for both good results and opportunities for development as we build towards Tokyo 2020.
“Lenzerheide is a very technical course which sits at altitude, and we’ve been tailoring our training camps accordingly. The course profile plays to the strengths of a number of our riders, particularly Annie, but less so for others who are better suited to a course with more climbing. However, the experience of racing against world-class competition on a course that will challenge them is invaluable in terms of development.
“As well as the individual races, we will be looking to field a strong team in the cross-country team relay event, which forms a crucial part of our Olympic qualification strategy. We will confirm the line-up for the relay nearer the time.”
Great Britain Cycling Team for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Elite men
Grant Ferguson (24, Peebles)
Elite women
Annie Last (27, Sheffield)
Under-23 men
Frazer Clacherty (20, Middlesbrough)
Cameron Orr (19, Derbyshire)
Under-23 women
Evie Richards (21, Malvern)
Isla Short (22, Peebles)
Junior men
Charlie Aldridge (17, Perthshire)
Harry Birchill (17, Devon)
Sean Flynn (18, Edinburgh)
Junior women
Harriet Harnden (17, Malvern)
Anna McGorum (17, Peebles)
The riders representing the Great Britain Cycling Team in the downhill events can be found here.
