Holmfirth-based mountain biker Tom Bell will represent Great Britain this weekend at the XCM Mountain Bike World Championships in Laissac, France.

After finishing 10th at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Series in Portugal, Bell comfortably qualified to represent Great Britain at the sport’s highest level.

Bell, who is supported by Huddersfield businesses One17 and Moose Storage, is one of the most successful mountain bike riders in the UK, currently 10th in the British Cycling National Rankings.

He has previously won both the regional mountain bike championships on numerous occasions, as well as the University championships as a student at the University of Leeds.

Bell spends around 15 to 20 hours a week training on both a road bike and mountain bike, splitting time between the Peak District and the Pennines around Holmfirth, as well as the Yorkshire Dales.

As a lightweight rider, his speciality in the sport is climbing, so he hopes to use this to his advantage this weekend, on a course that takes in a great deal of elevation.

Bell’s usual mountain bike discipline is cross-country or XC racing, which typically involves fve to seven laps of a 3k or 5k course, and is an Olympic sport.

This weekend though, he will race in the Marathon, which is a single loop of typically 80k to 100k, predominantly off-road.

Sunday’s race features a gruelling 88k off-road loop in the French Pyrenees, and Bell lines up against defending world champion Alban Lakata and the Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion from London 2012, Jaroslav Kulhavy.

Bell has travelled early in order to allow for plenty of time to practice on the course, register and get settled into the area.

The World Championships course will feature everything from long, steep climbs to technically challenging descents, so it’s imperative to be in great physical and mental shape on the morning of the race.

Great Britain’s other athletes include current national champion Ben Thomas in the Men’s race, and Melanie Alexander in the Women’s event.

Races start at 7.45am on Sunday and will last four to five hours.