Entry List: Val di Sole Cross Country World Championships 2021

 He will be absolutely desperate for the win

 Do you mean roll some drops?

 @Madfella: yes because he is very good rider, he crashed and it was so close to close the gap and be in top 10 top6.

 @Nairnster: watch the replay of the Olympics and you will understand my comment.

 @jlm0976: I know what happened. The issue was he tried to roll it because in practice it was rollable. If he had dropped the drop, everything would have been fine. So you obviously didn't understand my comment

 That's interesting - I assumed they both would race the Elites, seeing as they've raced there in the World Cups, and Olympics.

 @Starch-Anton:

U23 are not allowed to enter elite category at World Championships. However, if they overall finished (top 10 men, top 5 women) in U23 the preceeding year, they can choose to ride up into Elite the following year for the entire season of XCO World Cup series (i.e. they cannot try elite for just one race, and they cannot decide mid-season they want to move up.).

From UCI 4.1.004:

Cross-country Olympic – XCO
4.1.004 Except in the UCI world championships, continental championships and, at the discretion of national federations, national championships, under 23 men and women can ride the events for elite men and women respectively, even if a separate event is being run for under 23 riders.

Separate under 23 XCO world cup events are organised for men and women. The first 10 men under 23 and the first 5 women under 23 of the last UCI XCO individual ranking of the preceding year can decide whether they want to race the entire world UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS E0220 MOUNTAIN BIKE 4 cup season as elite or under 23. All other under 23 riders must race the world cup season in the under 23 category.

 @neons97:
Thanks for that. I must admit, I don't like that rule; if you've completely dominated the Elites as an U23 rider, it almost makes no sense to move back for one race - unless you want an easier race.

It looks as if it's the same as in CX were MvdP & Van Aert raced the Elite World Champs as U23 riders - as did Alvarado in 2020 - all 3 got dispensation to move up. They'd all won Elite World Cups as U23 riders.

So, hypothetically, if Pidcock had turned up to the Worlds, he'd have needed dispensation to ride Elites, instead of U23?

 He is the middle of Vuelta a Espana

 He is sort of busy with some bike race in Spain.

 @afader: yeah, and based on some recent survey results is seems like they might pay better.