Snowshoe XCO World Cup preview: Riders primed for final race of the season

It's been a long season for the top cross-country racers. From the World Cups, to qualifying for and racing the Olympic Games and battling it out at the World Championships, they are certainly deserving of some rest. 

There's just one race left on the World Cup calendar, and that's this weekend in West Virginia. After spending most of the season in Europe, the athletes have traveled to the East Coast of the United States to race at the mountain resort of Snowshoe, where the race circuit also visited in 2019. 

We've heard that there have been some improvements made to the course to make it even more worthy of challenging the best racers in the world. Here are our picks for riders to watch in Friday's short track and Sunday's XCO. 

• Best full-suspension mountain bikes
• Best lightweight mountain bikes under 10kg

Women

Evie Richards 

Evie Richards has truly found her form this season. After winning the World Championships, she took another big victory at the Lenzerheide World Cup. Could she cap off the season with a third win? 

Loana Lecomte

After the last race, Loana Lecomte officially secured the World Cup series overall title. Since that's all wrapped up, perhaps the pressure will subside and she can pull out another great result in Snowshoe. 

Jenny Rissveds 

Another success story this season is Jenny Rissveds. The Swedish racer is sitting in second place overall and has been consistent all season. It will be exciting to see what the 2016 Olympic Champion can do. 

Rebecca McConnell 

Another rider to watch in the overall contest is Rebecca McConnell. With Pauline Ferrand-Prévot ending her season early, McConnell could easily slot into third place in the overall. After a second-place finish last round, she could also land on the podium in Snowshoe. 

Haley Batten 

It's Snowshoe so we have to mention an American, and the best American in the women's elite field has been Haley Batten. She is currently within the top-10 overall and will be one to watch as she races on home soil.

Men

Christopher Blevins

Keeping with the American theme, Short Track World Champion Christopher Blevins will also be taking the start. Hopefully, he will have good legs after a week of racing on the road bike at the Tour of Britain. 

Victor Koretzky 

Koretzky opened up the World Cup season with a win in Germany, and he finally got another win in Switzerland. The Frenchman is sitting in third in the overall contest as well. 

Mathias Flückiger

Although the world's attention has turned to Nino Schurter after he won the rainbow stripes, another Swiss racer is leading the World Cup overall points tally. After a close race in Lenzerheide, the pressure will be one this time around. 

Alan Hatherly

Alan Hatherly had a fantastic race in Switzerland coming in fourth. The South African seems to be having a late-season surge in fitness, so he's worth keeping an eye on. 

Ondrej Cink 

Cink is sitting in second overall but is closely trailed by Koretzky. If all goes well, Cink could be looking to round the season off with a career-best overall result.