Austrian Daniel Federspiel is certainly the man to beat in the eliminator sprint. On the social media platform Facebook, it is clear that the European champion has prepared well for the season. Nevertheless, Federspiel is not unbeatable. The explosive Austrian had to settle for third place in the sprint race at the Sparkassen MTB Festival in Stuttgart. Even if his two conquerors are not on the start list for the first World Cup race, there are several other athletes with short muscle fibers at the start. First and foremost the world champion Paul van der Ploeg from Australia. He had already surprised Federspiel at last year's World Championships, without any previous World Cup history in the Eliminator.

Other favorites include the Belgian Fabrice Mels, the German champion Simon Gegenheimer and Thomas Litscher. In the women's race, victory is likely to go to the Swedes Alexandra Engen and Jenny Rissveds as well as Jolanda Neff. Kathrin Stirnemann and the Italian Eva Lechner should not be overlooked.

Broad field of favorites in the downhill
On the same day, the technical specialists will ride to qualify for the Downhill World Cup on Saturday. Not only with the victory of the resurgent Aaron Gwin, the starting position there is particularly open. Australian Michael Hanna will be particularly keen to win at home after narrowly missing out in Pietermaritzburg. With world champion Greg Minnaar, Frenchman Loic Bruni, Australian Troy Brosnan, Sam Blenkinsop from New Zealand and Gee Atherton, who was fastest in qualifying, there are several contenders for victory. It is difficult to assess what Swiss champion Nick Beer is capable of. What is certain, however, is that Beer will break into the top 10 if he has a good run.

With Noel Niederberger and Dominik Gspan, two other Swiss riders will be competing Down Under. Niederberger certainly has good maps for a top-30 result, provided he has recovered well from his crash in Pietermaritzburg.

Unpleasant to observe is the development in the women's downhill. Just nine athletes are listed for the qualifying race. Despite the poor turnout, it will be exciting to see whether Great Britain's Manon Carpenter races to victory again or the reigning world champion Rachel Atherton reclaims the crown. Emmeline Ragot is a rider at the start who, just like Australia's Tracey Hannah, should not be left off the list of favorites.

Emelie Siegenthaler is, as in South Africa, the only Swiss rider at the start and will do everything she can to improve on her disappointing ninth place in Pietermaritzburg in Cairns.

Cross-country: record chances for Absalon
Despite Nino Schurter's absence, the second World Cup race of the year should be no less exciting. It could well come down to a duel between the German Manuel Fumic and World Cup leader Julien Absalon. With a victory, the latter could equal the record for the most World Cup victories held by Juliana Furtado and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa.
Although Absalon is the big contender for victory, he must not take his compatriot Maxime Marotte, Ondrej Cink from the Czech Republic and the still strong oldie José Hermida lightly alongside Fumic. The Swiss riders Mathias Flückiger, Thomas Litscher and Fabian Giger can also be expected to achieve top results. Nicola Rohrbach has also risen to the top 10 contenders after the World Cup opener in South Africa. Florian Vogel will not be competing due to fatherhood and Lukas Flückiger is still dealing with the consequences of his training crash and is therefore training at home. Instead, Olympic champion Jaroslav Kulhavy is set to return to racing after his injury.

U23 world champion Jolanda Neff is considered the big favorite after her impressive winning ride the weekend before last in Cairns. Her main rival is Maja Wloszczowska, who comes from the same team as Neff. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa and Annika Langvad are staying away from the World Cup in Australia. The reigning world champion Julie Bresset is considered dangerous. Although she did not finish in the top five in Pietermaritzburg, the Frenchwoman could be among the front runners again in Cairns.www.uci.ch