MTB XCO European Championships 2022: favorites, schedule and where to watch it live online

The 2022 XCO European Championships will be held in Munich, Germany, on August 19 and 20. A competition that this year is part of a much larger sporting event in which the Europeans of up to 12 different sports modalities are being disputed. Here we leave you all the information to follow the MTB events.

Timetable XCO 2022 European Championships

This year the XCO European Championships have been divided into several venues according to categories, and if a few months ago the Under-23 and Master races were held in Portugal, in Munich only the Elite category will be held. Therefore, the program will be much shorter than in previous years.

Friday 19

• XCO Elite Men 17:00

Saturday 20

• XCO Elite Women 12:00

The circuit

The race will be held in Munich's Olympiapark, an urban park with a 4.27 km course and 157 m of elevation gain. A completely artificial course to which technical sections have been added, such as rockgarden, wooden platforms or several drops. In this video you can see the circuit in detail.

Favorites for the 2022 European XCO Championships

The 2022 XCO European Championship comes this year with very few days of difference with respect to the World Championships, which will be held in Les Gets, France, from August 24 to 28. This proximity of dates has caused that some of the regulars on the World Cup podium have decided not to race in Munich with the intention of arriving at 100% to the World Championships. But at the same time it will also allow us to enjoy other big names who were not expected to compete in the European Championships and who will finally be at the start.

Among the big absences, we have to highlight the World Champion Nino Schurter, the Italian Luca Braidot, Vlad Dascalu, or the Spanish David Valero, who has decided to have this time to prepare for the World Championships. However, in the women's race there will be almost all the great protagonists, except for the Swedish Jenny Rissveds or the British Evie Richard, who is not having a very usual season.

In the women's race, the French Loana Lecomte and Pauline Ferrand Prevot, start as great favorites for the title after skipping the last two World Cup races to prepare for this event and the World Championships. But it is expected to be a very close race as the Swiss Jolanda Neff and Linda Indergand, and the Austrian Mona Mitterwallner, who have shown to be a step ahead of their rivals in the last World Cup races, will be at the start.

In the men's race, there is a rider who starts as top favorite despite having only competed in 2 races this year, winning both. It is the British Tom Pidcock who secured his presence in the European XCO after a road block that led him to win the mythical stage of Alpe d'Huez of the Tour de France 2022.

But the Olympic champion will not be alone in Munich, and among his rivals he will surely find the Swiss Mathias Fluckiger and Lars Forster or the French Titouan Carod, who arrives in top form after giving a great performance in Mont Sant Anne. Of the riders racing at home and who could have an extra point of motivation, we have to highlight Luca Schwarzbauer. The German has shown this year that he is one of the strongest riders on the grid and if he manages the race well he is capable of beating anyone in a sprint finish.

Where to watch the MTB European Championships 2022

This European MTB Championship 2022 can be followed on TV or via srtreaming on Eurosport Player, Eurosport 1 or GCN channels. It will be possible to watch both the men's race on Friday 19 and the women's race on Saturday 20.