Richards Opens 2025 Mountain Bike World Cup Season With Short-Track Victory In Brazil

Briton excels in Araxá as Chilean Vidaurre grabs cross-country podium spot in men's XCO race on Sunday.

Evie Richards started the 2025 Mountain Bike World Cup season with a brilliant XCC victory at Araxá in Brazil on Saturday as Chilean Martín Vidaurre showed off his sprinting prowess to bank third in the men's XCO race on Sunday. Here is all you need to know:

- Saturday's women's XCC race saw reigning world champion Richards produce a masterclass to grab the win in the season opener after Jolanda Neff, Jenny Rissveds and Loana Lecomte pushed the pace early in a lead group that also included Richards, Alessandra Keller and Sina Frei.

- The lead group swelled to 15 heading into the penultimate lap with Samara Maxwell making a move on the sixth-lap climb with only Richards - plus Swiss duo Keller and Nicole Koller - able to follow.

- Richards, though, dug deep on the final lap to bridge the gap to Maxwell and move clear, then hold off the Kiwi rider on the line to triumph by one second with Keller five seconds back in third.

- Richards, 28, said: "I'm super happy, this wasn't a target race for me. I wasn't very confident coming into it, but I like to win so I was really focused. I'm just trying to be a bit smarter tactically. The first race of the year it's more like suss everyone else out and ride my own race. I couldn't have attacked if I didn't have the legs, so it was just on my feelings really."

- It was a different story in Sunday's XCO race as Richards finished down in 11th place behind winner Maxwell with Koller in second place and American Savilia Blunk rounding out the podium in third.

- Maxwell became the first female rider from New Zealand to secure an XCO World Cup elite win. She revealed: "I just kept telling myself, 'this is for a World Cup win, hurt as much as you can'."

- After American Christopher Blevins won Saturday's men's XCC race by one second from French duo Victor Koretzky and Mathis Azzaro, Sunday's XCO race saw Koretzky break clear to win by 10 seconds from Blevins with Vidaurre edging out Swiss Lars Forster for third spot.

- Koretzky and Blevins led from the front and powered clear of the field to start the penultimate lap with a huge 50-second advantage, the Frenchman digging deep before the final lap to pull away despite a slow puncture as Vidaurre, 25, turned on the speed to claim third in a sprint.