Martin Vidaurre seems to have taken note of what happened in 2023 and in this 2024 has managed to climb the podium with bronze in his first World Cup race, the Short Track event in Mairipora, Brazil, which is a historic milestone for Chile as it is the first medal in an elite World Cup.
Vidaurre competed intelligently and his most complicated moment was the fight for position with his own teammate, Victor Koretzky. But the Chilean ended up being faster and came in third, behind Sam Gaze and Luca Schwarzbauer.
In this 2024 the Chilean has not yet competed in Europe and achieving his first elite podium in Brazil, in Latin America, is one more sign of how XCO is expanding borders and each year is a little more global.
“To finish third here in Brazil is just amazing. A lot of Chilean fans were here. It took me a while to be on the podium, so it’s good to trust the process and be back on the podium. I am so happy. I enjoy being a racer, I don’t like to rush too much, so I trust my work and keep going because I love the sport” he explained after passing the finish line.
Martín Vidaurre has written a new page in the history of Chilean MTB. The Specialized Factory Racing team member burst onto the world MTB scene with spectacular force in the under-23 category. His big-name signing by Specialized Factory Racing gave way to a year 2023 that was an adaptation to the elite category and to his new team.
Last season’s results seemed not to be up to his achievements as an under-23, but in the first opportunity he has had in 2024 he has achieved something historic: to place a Chilean rider on the podium of an XCO World Cup.
Martín Vidaurre was the absolute king of the under-23 category in his last season competing in it. Wearing the rainbow jersey he had won the previous year, he opted to use up his time as an under-23 rider and not move to the elite category early.
His decision brought him a long list of wins in the XCO World Cup. So much so that he was only defeated in 1 of the 9 U-23 World Cup races. He came within a whisker of a perfect World Cup season. However, in the 2023 World Cup he could not revalidate his title of champion and that was the sour note to a year in which Vidaurre placed Chile in the world XCO panorama.
Source: https://esmtb.com