France only has one World Cup round, but three of the country’s top racers point to why it has topped podiums around the world.
Cor Vos, Piper Albrecht
Six rounds into 2026, and there is a clear theme at the front of proceedings in men’s elite XC: the French. At this point in the season, only four races out of 12 XCC and XCO events have been won by a non-French rider. On two occasions – albeit including Mathis Azzaro’s questionable DSQ in Leogang, and officially once again in La Thuile – the French trio of Azzaro, Adrien Boichis, and Luca Martin have ridden to a French podium lockout.
This is not a new phenomenon; before injury sidelined him for 2026, Victor Koretzky is another Frenchman who has never been far from the podium in recent seasons, and Jordan Sarrou was one of the only riders to get the better of Nino Schurter at a World Champs.
Going back further still, Julien Absalon was the rider of his generation, holding the record for career World Cup wins until Schurter edged past him in 2024.
Moving over to the women’s side, there might not be quite the same level of French dominance right now, but the likes of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Loana Lecomte have had commanding periods in their mountain bike careers, and before them came Julie Bresset, who claimed gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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There is a strong case to say that the French are better than almost any other nation, perhaps with the exception of Switzerland, when it comes to XC mountain biking. But the question is why or, more importantly, how?
While every men’s XCC and XCO podium this year has featured at least one French athlete, the same level of success hasn’t been achieved by the nation in men’s road racing, so what is it they are doing when it comes to mountain biking that can’t help but produce champions?
This is a question that was asked to the panel of Azzaro, Boichis, and Martin at the Whoop UCI MTB World Series mid-season press conference. The three Frenchmen’s answers, contrasted with those of a fourth panellist – American Bjorn Riley, who took his first World Cup win at Andorra, in the XCC – revealed just what France does that other nations haven’t been able to replicate.
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