LETTER FROM ANDORRA: A report from the ground at Pal Arinsal World Championships by bike designer Dan Roberts

After a bit of a break, we’re back in the chaos and in Andorra for the 2024 World Championships – it’s a stunning venue and everyone seems to enjoy riding this track. As we’ve raced on this side of the hill a few times now, people know a bit more how things run. And while many were looking forward to coming back to Andorra for those same 360-degree mountain views and high-speed dust bombing, many were not looking forward to the logistical nightmare of this venue.

The valley town of La Massana has a good buzz about it, with banners and life-size posters adorning shop windows and overhead cables throughout town. It’s great to see your favourite riders and team members mooching about of an evening. But the town is quite the commute from all the two-wheeled action up in the resort.

The elite team gated community, pitched at the bottom of the track, is a spectacle, with some added World Champs flair on some of the big team rigs to go along with the custom frames and kits that get pulled out for this special race. But peeking over the gates, it’s a stark contrast to look at all the federations and smaller teams crammed into the adjacent grassy field. That’s if you’re even pitted on the right hill, as many other non-elite teams are 3.6km away at the XC venue. Is this the start of the Great Downhill Purge and what might be a sign of things to come for the 2025 season? At least someone found the top of the finish arch again.

Venue logistics aside, the track is relatively unchanged from last year, apart from the new wooden start hut on the opposite side of the lift. This then leads into some new jumps and fresh off-camber before rejoining the old track fairly quickly. It’s perhaps a tale of two halves, with the wide open and shaped top section later giving way to some steeper and much looser sections further down when things head into the woods.

Everything started out pristinely clean during the track walk. But perhaps far quicker than the guys lovingly watering the berms would have wanted, the track began to deteriorate. After just the first day of junior practice large holes were forming, deep dust was getting churned up and the familiar Andorran vibe was back. So too was the speed. This track is fast from the get-go and can easily sucker you into riding over that section’s max speed. While not littered with line choice and technical obstacles, it’s the sheer pace and looseness of this track that is the challenge.

Up in the mountains, the weather is predictably unpredictable. While forecasts can say no rain, it makes it all the spicier when you need to quickly huddle under the trees while a raging thunder, hail and rain storm rolls in and turns the track from a dust bowel to a challenging mix of slick mud and bone dry patches. Some elites only got in a couple of runs to stay dry, while others maybe found shelter in the multiple spectator refreshment stops down the track.

The schedule is a bit more separated this year between the juniors and elites, with the former kicking proceedings off on Monday for track walk and having finals on Thursday. Whereas the elites wouldn’t track walk until Tuesday, on an already worn-in track, and decide the winner on Saturday, after having an extra day of practice in between qualification and finals.

Quick-fire tech round-up: Biscuit tins have been added to the rear of the Mondraker bikes, allowing Hobnobs to absorb some of the harsh vibrations. Shimano has finally remembered that they have a downhill product segment, and many bikes are running a new version of brake with updated calliper and lever. Data acquisition is everywhere and perhaps accounted for the practice day storm due to obscene amounts of digits being uploaded to the cloud. The sheer weight of all the fancy paint might be the reason for so many flats – that or the sheets of lead roof lining hanging around the bottom brackets. Interestingly, I can clearly see the shock on the Scott bikes. Meanwhile, they’ve run out of black zip ties in the Cube pits. More links might result in more rattles. Ochain drafted in a vendor for Gucci for some added pedal kickback-reducing bling. Maxxis has launched a bewildering amount of new, but similar-looking tyres, including the R Dunne and N Hoffmann. And finally, Specialized and Öhlins have collaborated on a new…office chair.