Keegan Swenson adds UCI Gravel World Championships to crowded schedule after MTB Marathon Worlds defence

In four days, Keegan Swenson lines up with an eight-rider US team to defend his title at the UCI Mountain Bike Elite Marathon World Championships.

After Saturday’s contest in the Italian Dolomites, Swenson confirmed to Cycling News that he has added the lengthy travel to Western Australia for the UCI Gravel World Championships on October 11 to his schedule.

Still to be confirmed as a wildcard by Team USA, Swenson would modify his appearances for the Life Time Grand Prix series, racing Chequamegon MTB in Wisconsin one week after UCI MTB Marathon Worlds and Big Sugar Gravel in Arkansas one week after UCI Gravel Worlds.

A second trip to the Worlds for gravel would mean he has to miss Little Sugar MTB, but this can count as a ‘drop race’. Each athlete in the invitation-only field must start five of the six races to be eligible for a share of the $350,000 prize purse, split evenly between top 10 women and top 10 men. It’s a risk he’ll take, as missing a start at either Chequamegon or Big Sugar would take him off the leaderboard completely.

Swenson has command of the elite men’s rankings in the Life Time Grand Prix with half of the races still to go. The Utah native rolled off three consecutive Grand Prix titles before going fourth last year. He has a double-digit points lead over series challengers Bradyn Lange, Matt Beers and Brendan Johnston after winning Leadville Trail 100 MTB for a record-tying sixth time in July.

A trip to Primiero San Martino di Castrozza in Trentino to retain the title in the MTB marathon discipline had been a clear target; after all, he wore the rainbow stripes to victory in Leadville. There is also prize money for the top 3, and €5,000 for the elite winners.

Last year’s XCM runner-up was Italian Samuele Porro, who finished just 26 seconds behind the US winner. The Italian squad will be hard to hold off, as they bring 21 riders to the start of the elite men’s race.

Other contenders coming from the Life Time Grand Prix are Beers of South Africa, Andreas Seewald of Germany, Andrew L'Esperance of Canada and US riders Lange and Cole Paton.

Marathon Worlds will follow the same routes as used by the acclaimed Italian mountain bike race Mythos Primiero Dolomiti. Elite fields will compete on September 12 across 95.2km, with 4,000 metres of elevation gain. Two hors categorie climbs with gradients reaching over 12% pack a punch in the final 25km.

The XCM Worlds have been held since 2009, with the first winners from USA sweeping the elite podiums last year, Swenson going solo for the men and Kate Courtney also winning solo for the women. Courtney has since signed with FDJ United-SUEZ and will compete in Italy in defence of her world title.

Elite men start at 9:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, with elite women on course 30 minutes later.

The UCI MTB World Championships for cross-country, downhill and E-XC were held August 26-30 in Val di Sole, Italy.