France took its third team relay victory in a row on Thursday at the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. The host Czech team took a very popular silver medal, while Switzerland won bronze.

The team relay (XCR) is an event unique to the UCI World Championships. Each country enters four riders – a Junior man, Under-23 man, Elite man and Elite woman – with each athlete riding one lap of the cross-country course and then handing off to the next team member in a designated transfer zone. There are often lead changes, and it is never certain until the very end which strategy will work best in a given race.

The 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, opened on Wednesday evening with the fan-favourite cross-country Eliminator (XCE). Both defending champions retained their titles, with Linda Indergand of Switzerland winning the women’s race, and Daniel Federspiel of Austria the men’s.

by 2016 UCI Mountain Cross country Bike World Championships