British Cycling has announced the 14-strong line-up that will represent Great Britain at the 2024 UEC MTB European Championships in the first major event of the Olympic year.
Running from Wednesday 8 to Sunday 12 May 2024 in Cheile Gradistei, Romania, Evie Richards heads up a strong Great Britain Cycling Team squad after a fantastic start to the season. Having taken the short track win at the Mairiporã world series round in Brazil, Richards followed up with three more top 10 finishes, and will lead teammates Annie Last and Isla Short as they contest the elite women’s race and vie for those all-important Olympic qualification points.
Last year’s under-23 men’s MTB cross-country world champion Charlie Aldridge will race in Romania in the elite men’s category, alongside teammate Cam Orr.
Ella Maclean-Howell will be GB’s only representative in the women’s under-23 race, coming off the back of a string of national and international wins including the under-23 race at the Heubacher Mountainbike Festival, the Coupe de France race in Marseille the opening round one of the National Cross-country Series.
On the under-23 men’s side, coming off the back of some impressive wins on the road, Joe Blackmore will start his mountain bike season with the European championships. He will be joined by Corran Carrick-Anderson who recently took second place in the elite men’s opening round of the National Cross-country Series, as well as Max Greensill who moves up from the junior ranks to his first season in under-23.
Contesting the junior events for the men will be rising start Max Standen who has shown promise both nationally and with a top 10 finish at the Junior World Series round in Banyoles earlier in the year. Winner of the junior race in the opening National Cross-country Series round, Bethany-Ann Jackson, and fourth place Daisy Taylor will contest the European jersey, being joined by debutants Evie Strachan and Maddie Moorhouse-Smith.
Stephen Park CBE, Performance Director for the Great Britain Cycling Team, said: “With the Olympics just a few months away, we are delighted to be taking such a strong team to the 2024 UEC MTB European Championships, including world champion medallists Evie Richards and Charlie Aldridge. It’s amazing to see the strength and depth of talent we have in the Great Britain Cycling Team, with four junior women competing for the European title, and fills me with confidence as we look beyond Paris to LA and beyond.”
Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the 2024 UEC MTB European Championships:
Elite women
Annie Last
Evie Richards
Isla Short
Elite men
Charlie Aldridge
Cam Orr
Under 23 men
Joe Blackmore
Corran Carrick-Anderson
Max Greensill
Under 23 women
Ella Maclean-Howell
Junior women
Bethany-Ann Jackson
Maddie Moorhouse-Smith
Evie Strachan
Daisy Taylor
Junior Men
Max Standen
