In one of the world championships with the highest level in recent years, the Brazilian mountain biker Henrique Avancini was consecrated this Sunday, August 6, marathon champion in the Cycling World Championship Glasgow 2023, with a happy image that many will remember for eternity.
The Brazilian won a tough race in which the hardness of the route itself, with 96 km and more than 3,000 meters of unevenness, was added to the mud and water that made the route difficult. A true XCM race where (again) an XCO rider won. One more year, and as happened last year when Sam Gaze won, an XCO biker surpassed all the XCM specialists on his terrain.
The South American cyclist finished the demanding test with a time of 4’14:42″, taking 28 seconds from the Czech Martin Stosek, and 1:43″ from the German Lukas Baum, who completed the podium. In fourth position came the Swiss Marc Stutzmann, 3:33″ behind the winner.
Avancini’s race was very smart. He had a tough one-on-one with Lukas Baum, with whom he rode together until the final part of the race. But Avancini was able to go solo in the latter part of the race, just when the XCM riders should be bringing out their best long-distance preparation.
This is the second XCM World Championship that Henrique Avancini has won. His advantage was small over Stosek, but enough to be crowned the best in the world XCM.
Another representative of Latin America, the Colombian Leonardo Páez, the best mountain biker in the history of his country with four world medals in the Marathon, had an outstanding performance, entering fifth position 3:35 minutes behind the winner.
Avancini will compete in two more modalities within the 2023 Glasgow Super World Championship. He will do so by returning to XCM, where he was world champion in 2018 XCO and in Short Track.