Martin
Vidaurre
Chile
·
MTB
Date of birth | 18 February 2000 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Santiago |
Age | 25 |
Nationality | Chile |
Career start | 2019 |
Disciplines | Mountainbike Cross Country |
Martín Vidaurre etched his name on cycling history not only for his home nation of Chile but also the entire continent of South America during a 2021 summer of cross-country racing that made him one of the hottest young properties in mountain biking.
By winning the gold medal in the U23 class at the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, claiming his first U23 World Cup wins and, ultimately, the overall U23 World Cup overall title, Martín became Chile’s first winner of any mountain bike world title or world cup race and South America’s first-ever world champion in the cross-country olympic (XCO) distance. It’s an incredible achievement that’s now put the young native of Santiago on the fast-track to becoming one of the sport's next big stars.
Following in the footsteps of his father Cristobal, himself a former Pan-American cross-country champion, Martín learned to ride a bike at just two-and-a-half and began to compete at five-years-old, winning his first international title in 2016, when he won the Pan-American crown in the cadets class.
Martín really started to turn heads when he took on the best young racers on the world stage. After finishing fourth in the 2019 U23 World Championship race in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, which also secured him qualification for the XCO race at Tokyo 2020, Martín followed that up with his first top five finish in the U23 World Cup series during the shortened 2020 season, making him one to watch for the 2021 season.
Few would have predicted the incredible, history-making season he would deliver, though.
Martín took his riding to the next level as the season progressed and after podium finishes in both Austria and France, he absolutely dominated the World Championships race to win by over a minute from his nearest rival and from there he didn’t lose a race for the rest of the summer, dominating his U23 rivals to win his first World Cups in style and also the overall U23 World Cup crown.
In short, it was a game-changing season and 2022 was even more impressive for Martín, who won all but one U23 World Cup race on his way to second consecutive overall title in season of almost total domination.
Signed by the powerful Specialized factory team for his debut in the Elite ranks, there's a lot of anticipation about what Martín can do against the sport's best, but whatever happens, he’s put Chile on the cross-country map and is here to stay at the top of the sport.