Denmark's Albert Withen Philipsen and Slovakia's Viktória Chladonová have taken the junior XCO titles in dominant fashion at the 2024 Mountain Bike World Championships in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.
Chladonová got the action started early on Friday, opening up a 17-second advantage on the first lap of the race and only extending her advantage through to an eventual winning margin of 36 seconds from Rafaelle Carrier (Canada).
Defending champion Philipsen was similarly dominant in the junior men's race that followed, scorching away from the field on the opening lap to a lead of 1:04. The young superstar then stamped his authority over the field, extending his gap out to a massive 1:55 at the finish ahead of Spain's Hugo Franco Gallego.
Taking third in the men's race was Philipsen's compatriot Nikolaj Hougs, who lost out in a sprint to Gallego, with Slovenia's Marusa Tereza Serkezi rounding out the podium places in the junior women's race, 1:31 down on Chladonová.
Both winners are huge prospects across the mountain bike, cyclocross and road disciplines, with Chladonová adding the rainbow jersey to her third place at CX Worlds from earlier this season, and Philipsen not only defending his XCO world title but adding it to his junior road world title.
The young Dane has already joined Lidl-Trek as a marquee signing for their future, with his WorldTour contract due to begin in 2025 for a four-year deal.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
