The Paris Olympics open this weekend with the women's and men's mountain bike cross-country competitions on a former landfill site. Top athletes completing training runs this week have offered mixed reviews of the course on the hills of Ellancourt, noting that the loose gravel and completely man-made course is unlike anything that has inspired the sport of mountain biking.

Former Olympic champion Nino Schluter (Switzerland) was unanimous in his assessment of the course.

“Slippery, quite loose and quite wide. If you go fast, it's super slippery,” Schluter said.

“It would be nice if the gravel was still a little on the side and nowhere too loose. As we saw in London and Rio, there was no mountain biking before and it was 100 percent artificial. Like we saw in London and Rio, it's 100% artificial.

Top Dutch rider Puck Pieterse previewed the course before last year's test event.

“It looks good. Last year I was already familiar with the course and had the opportunity to race here. A few small tweaks were made, but for the most part it's the same. It's gravelly and slippery, especially in the corners, so you have to be careful.

“It's a track where you need speed going into the corners and you can't be afraid to drift on a slippery surface.”

“It's very slippery, especially in the corners, so you have to be careful.”

“It's a very slippery track.

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“The technical parts come one after another, but they are not very long laps, nor are there long 3-4 minute climbs.

Pieterse predicted that Pauline Ferrand-Prevot would be the leading local contender for the win. 'It's her home country, she's the favorite, and she'll be under pressure. We'll see on Sunday. I think I did everything I could and that gives me confidence.”

British riders Tom Pidcock, the defending champion and one of the leading contenders for the men's Olympic MTB title, and Evie Richards were less bullish about the course, with Pidcock offering a rather blunt assessment.

“It's not the best course in the world, but it's the same for everyone,” Pidcock said. It's a bland course, and I think it could have been made more suitable for mountain biking.”

“I like mountain biking because it drives me to enjoy it. The trails, the places you can go. Just graveling down hillsides is not real mountain biking.”

Pidcock and Richards agreed that the trails are not as tactical as those encountered during the season.

“You don't have to think too much about it; you just go down one line,” Pidcock said.

“There is only one line. Usually you can pick a different line,” Richards said, ”and it's still technical because there are a lot of cool features and drops and jumps, but it's artificial. There is just one line, and you race on that line. It will be easy to learn, but when it comes to racing, you don't have many options”

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“I think they did their best. It's not easy to build a mountain bike track anywhere as close as Paris. If I were the designer, I would want to make more use of natural features rather than artificial ones.

“But at the Olympics, I think the courses are usually a little different from your usual World Cup races. Usually they're in the Alps or in ski resorts, but this time they're closer to the city center. I think they did a great job.”

Boring courses aside, Richards is excited to represent Great Britain in the Olympics.

“The Olympics is my dream and that's why I got into the sport. Since I was 5 years old, it was all I ever wanted. Not only for myself, but for my family, my grandparents, everyone has dreamed of it. It's not just my dream, it's the whole family's dream come true. Everyone will come to see it. There is no better feeling than representing your country, especially at a tournament.”

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