Adrien Boichis rode alone across the line at Pal Arinsal, a slight figure on the trails he knows better than anyone in the field. The Frenchman won round eight of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series on 12 July 2026, taking the XCO Elite men's title on the highest course of the season by nineteen seconds.
How the race broke
The Pal Arinsal loop offered no rest. The four-kilometre circuit above La Massana climbed 119 metres each lap, three ascents stacked into every turn, with rock sectors and root-crossed descents to punish tiring legs. The men rode eight laps of it. Boichis set a high pace from the opening laps and waited for the decisive stretch to break the race apart.
A front group formed on the second lap: Boichis, Mathis Azzaro, Luca Schwarzbauer and overall leader Luca Martin, the last of them riding through illness. Boichis's steady rhythm dropped Martin, then Schwarzbauer began to lose ground. That left two Frenchmen at the front. Azzaro tried to catch Boichis off guard as he reached for an energy gel, but Boichis answered at once and took back control.
The gap was thirteen seconds at the bell. It was already decided. Boichis launched his final attack on the penultimate lap, Azzaro could no longer follow, and the lead widened to nineteen seconds at the finish, in a time of 1:14:48. The margin behind told its own story. Schwarzbauer completed the podium at 1:12, his first World Cup XCO top three since 2022; Christopher Blevins came fourth as he rebuilds from a broken collarbone, and Simone Avondetto took fifth. Azzaro's ride was the more remarkable for its origin. He had started 26th on the grid after a crash in Friday's Short Track, then charged back into contention on the long climbs.
Boichis, who lives and trains in Andorra, won in front of his own crowd. "It is a magic day. I live in Andorra now, and to win here, at altitude and on such a demanding course, makes it even more special," he told reporters after the race.
A second win, and a pattern
This was not a first. Boichis took his maiden Elite XCO World Cup victory earlier in the 2026 season at Saalfelden-Leogang. Weeks before Andorra he had won the Short Track World Cup in Lenzerheide, crossing six seconds clear of Luca Martin and Bjorn Riley for his first XCC victory. Pal Arinsal turned a run of promise into something firmer: a rider who can set the pace, absorb an attack, and finish the job alone. Martin held the overall lead on 1,419 points to Boichis's 1,289.
He won where he trains, on the climbs he rides in the quiet weeks. The mountain knew him first.
