The first stage of the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is this weekend in Lourdes, France. Seven American men are in the field for this downhill competition. Qualification will take place on Saturday with the final on Sunday. The clear favorite among the Americans and probably the entire field is defending champion Aaron Gwin. Gwin won four events on the tour last season and added a second place finish en route to winning the entire series. Gwin won the Lourdes event last year by almost four seconds.

Things begin at 8 AM ET on Saturday with the start of qualifying for the men.