Ahead of the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season, Red Bull TV has released a new docuseries called Race Tapes which follows the stories of the world’s best riders as they turn a passion for cycling into a career of racing.
Check out Episode 1 here.
Race Tapes is the evolution of the highly successful Fast Life docuseries on Red Bull TV, which followed elite stars Kate Courtney, Loic Bruni and Finn Iles on their respective UCI World Cup journeys.
The new six-episode series covers some of the biggest cycling names such as Austrian Vali Höll, Swiss legend XCO Nino Schurter, American Aaron Gwin as well as young Britons Tom Pidcock and Evie Richards.
From downhill to road cycling, the riders reflect on their journeys so far as they head into the 2023 season where they hope to unseat the likes of reigning 2022 champions Amaury Pierron of France and Swiss trio Schurter, Camille Balanche and Alessandra Keller from their thrones.
The first episode, focuses on two world champs road racer Tom Pidcock and MTB star Jolanda Neff, to prove that it really is possible to trade slicks for off-roaders, and vice versa, and still ride home with gold.
Tom Pidcock makes the leap from what he describes as the high performance, high stakes world of road racing to the “much friendlier and more relaxed” mountain biking scene. Since turning pro in 2021 Tom has won MTB gold in cross-country at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the 2022 Cyclo-cross World Championships and the classic Strade Bianche in 2023. Not bad for a 23-year-old Englishman with a Grand Tour stage win and podium at the 2021 Brabantse Pijl.
Neff, on the other hand, frequently trades in her mountain bike to do “a little road race here and there”. This is an understatement on her part when you discover that Jolanda races for the Trek-Segafredo road team, is two times Swiss National Champion and top ten in both the World Championships and 2021 Olympic Games in road cycling. A handsome tally for a multi-medal winning cyclo-cross and cross-country mountain biker.
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