Inside brutal world of mountain biking as Brits Charlie Aldridge and Tom Pidcock prepare for world championship showdown

‘WITHIN a minute, your heart rate is at your max’, reveals rising British star Charlie Aldridge. Imagine 40 of the world’s finest athletes crammed shoulder to shoulder, diving headfirst into muddy forest, jumping over boulders and scaling brutal climbs at full throttle. Charlie Aldridge watches on after missing out on world championship gold by mere millimetres Credit: Getty Frenchman Adrien Boichis pipped Charlie to victory in the short-track race Credit: Getty It’s fast, frantic and ruthlessly unforgiving. Cross-country mountain biking certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Charlie tells SunSport: “It doesn’t look too bad, but when you’re actually racing it, it’s crazy hard. “As soon as you start thinking, five people come past you and it’s all off instinct.” Those instincts will be tested to their very limit this weekend at Val di Sole when the best riders on the planet head to Italy for the Mountain Bike World Championships. Reigning Olympic champion Tom Pidcock will go toe-to-toe with cycling royalty in Mathieu van der Poel – with Aldridge among a host of riders hoping to spoil the party and take home the iconic world champion’s rainbow jersey. Aldridge, who rides for Cannondale Factory Racing in the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, already knows what it takes to win on the big stage. He was crowned U23 world champion on home soil in Scotland back in 2023, and the objective remains the same. Most read in Sport Charlie looks on utterly broken after the brutal 20-minute effort Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Charlie’s bike handling on the brutal drops are one of his biggest strengths Credit: Getty Images Huge jumps are among the obstacles riders must face in Italy Credit: Ed Sykes/SWpix.com/Shutterstock Charlie wears his silver medal after the short-track race against Adrien Boichis Credit: Whitehead/SWpix.com/Shutterstock He said: “I try and think about racing against other guys as just numbers, not really a person.” If you’ve never watched cross-country mountain biking before, strap in, as Aldridge and Pidcock are a lethal duo targeting gold at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Unlike road cycling, there are no quiet, five-hour breakaway efforts or team briefings as the peloton cruise along smooth tarmac. From the moment the starting gun is fired, it’s flat out. There are two races – short-track (XCC) and Olympic distance (XCO). Charlie – who missed out on short track gold on Thursday by mere millimetres – explained: “Short track is harder than XCO in terms of going full gas from the gun. You basically stay above 180bpm the whole 20 minutes.” Even in the 90-minute Olympic distance, there’s zero margin for error and positioning is everything. Fail to hold your ground and you’ll be trapped behind “sprinting your balls off” in a desperate bid to claw yourself back into contention. Tom Pidcock is among the favourites for gold in Val di Sole Credit: Getty Images Mathieu van der Poel stands in both Pidcock and Aldridge’s way in their bid for gold Credit: Getty Images “If you have a good start and your tactics are good, you can easily beat someone who’s in insane form but has got blocked behind loads of guys.” Pidcock and van der Poel’s presence this weekend will amplify that chaos tenfold. “When they turn up for world champs, everyone’s going faster. It definitely makes it a more interesting dynamic.” Charlie will be wearing the same Great Britain colours as Pidcock, but while on paper they may be team-mates, it’s every man for himself out there. He explained: “We don’t work like the road – I’m not paid to ride for someone else.” Charlie very much bucks the trend of mountain bikers. He fell into the sport by chance while growing up in Scotland, stumbling upon an advert in his local paper for Strathearn Mountain Biking Club. With many of his rivals barely scraping 60kg, Charlie is far heavier than most, and has established a reputation for explosive power and immense bike handling. With the countdown to LA 2028 well underway, Britain has a genuine medal contender in Charlie, someone who feeds on the dirt and rain having spent his childhood immersed in it. Cross-country mountain biking isn’t just cycling – it’s high-octane survival of the fittest where one split-second lapse of concentration could spell disaster. Watch the Mountain Biking World Championship live on TNT Sports and HBO Max on Sunday afternoon from 14:00 BST. Comment now