Simon Andreassen claims MTB XCO World Cup victory in Araxá from four-way sprint

Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing) sprints to victory in the XCO elite men's race at the Araxá round of the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Cup (Image credit: WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series. 2024)

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It was a drama packed elite men's cross-country Olympic (XCO) race in Araxá with Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing) ultimately claiming his first Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Cup win since 2020, triumphing in a sprint during the second round of racing for 2024 in Brazil.

The race – which started with Mairiporã winner Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) being pushed to the back of the field by a first lap crash – ended with a four-way dash to the line between Andreassen, his Cannondale Factory Racing teammate Alan Hatherly, Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) and Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing).

“That was nice to win a World Cup again, to be honest," said a clearly surprised Andreassen. "I haven’t thought too much about it yet. It's been a few years since I won and I will take a moment to soak it in.”

It had, in the earlier stages of the final lap, looked like Koretzky may actually be on his way to victory as he was out front alone but then a mechanical instead left him with a chase on his hands to regain contact with the front group before the sprint for the top placings unfolded.

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.