Adrien Boichis is having one heck of a season. After beating Mathieu van der Poel in Les Gets and winning XCC world championships (along with a slew of World Cup races), he leads the XCC World Cup standigns. All that speed has put the Frenchman within just a few points of the World Cup XCO overall title, too, with two rounds of racing remaining.

Seems like an easy goal for a rider with heaps of momentum, right? Well, mabye.

Boichis, it seems, would rather ride out the season on the road.

Returning to the road

The French rider splits his time between Specialized Factory Racing’s XC squad and Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe’s road World Tour team. This year’s already seen Boichis race with RBBH at Tour of Romandie and the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali stage races. That’s while still being a dominant force on the World Cup circuit.

With the World Cup crossing the Atlantic for two rounds in the U.S.A., jumping back and forth between teams gets a little less practical. Still, the World Cup overall is a coveted trophy compared to racing in support of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe’s ambitions on the road. With Specialized being a California-based team, the last two World Cup’s would, you might think, be an opportunity for the star racer to show off for the brand’s home audience. Or at least take a scouting trip to the location of the L.A. 2028 Olympics.

Or not. Oh well.

Instead, Boichis will race Diro Della Toscana.

Overall upheaval

That will likely be a big relief for Cannondale’s Luca Martin. He held a scant 15-point advantage over Boichis in the XCO standings going into the two U.S. rounds. The U.S.A.’s Bjorn Riley (Scott-SRAM) is positioned to move up into second, but is nearly 600 points behind the two French racers. With Cannondale folding at the end of 2026, Martin should be able to add World Cup overall winner to his resume as he searches for a new sponsor.

Boichis will also likely conceed his lead in the XCC World Cup overall. He currently has 170 points over Martin in that race, with Mathis Azzaro (Origine Racing)  another 46 points behind. If Martin has any success overseas, he could take both titles back home with him to France.