Paris 2024 Olympics mountain biking: Everything you need to know about the off-road events

For cycling fans the Paris Olympics features countless highlights across disciplines, including the start-studded mountain biking events.

The games will feature both women’s and men’s cross-country MTB events, with familiar names lining up in both.

In the men’s event, the start list will feature stars of the road like Tom Pidcock, along with mountain bike specialists like former Olympic champion Nino Schurter. 

The women’s competition will also feature huge-talents in the off road discipline, including Evie Richards, Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Jolanda Neff. 

Here is everything you need to know about the Tokyo Olympics MTB events: 

When is the Olympic mountain biking?

The women's mountain biking takes place at 1pm GMT on Sunday 28 July, on the first weekend of the Olympics, with the men's equivalent taking place the next day on Monday 29 July, also at 1pm.

The course 

The events will take place at Elancourt Hill, which is the highest point in the Paris region. Apparently, there are great views of the centre of the city from the top of the hill, which is at a height of 231m.

There isn't much major infrastructure being installed at the site in order to preserve its biodiversity, while 95% of the trails are based on existing paths.

The exact course is yet to be released, but the race typically takes somewhere between one and two hours. The number of laps will be announced the day before.

Who is riding?

The men’s event will feature some serious talent, including the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), who is currently riding the Tour de France.

Other big names in that race will include Nino Schurter (Switzerland), Sam Gaze (New Zealand) and Alan Hatherly (South Africa).

The women's event will feature names like Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France), as well as Evie Richards (Great Britain) and Puck Pieterse (Netherlands).

Just 36 riders will be in each race, with a maximum of two per country.