UCI Mountain Bike World Series: Major shake-up announced for 2025 season – Eurosport

Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series global promoter, WBD Sports, have announced amendments to the UCI Regulations for professional mountain biking.

The 2025 season will see the biggest overhaul to the sport since the inception of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 1991.

The driving force for the changes is the desire to elevate the UCI Mountain Bike World Series.

The series, which launched in 2023, brings the major formats of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cups under the same umbrella, to ensure that each round is contested by the world’s best riders and teams, reinforcing its position as the pinnacle of mountain biking.

The reform will bring significant changes to the qualification system for UCI World Cups, reviewing the number of riders competing at the sport’s pinnacle while creating a clear pathway for teams and riders to progress from national and continental to UCI World Cup levels.

This provides new opportunities for emerging talent and ensures that the best riders can showcase their skills on the world’s biggest stage.

One of the biggest shifts is the change in the qualifying process for the UCI World Cup. The new regulations will review the number of riders competing, focusing on the best riders and teams to create more competitive racing.

While the registration of UCI MTB teams will continue to be handled by the UCI, from 2025, UCI Mountain Bike World Series teams (formerly known as UCI Elite MTB teams) will register under two categories: gravity (downhill and enduro) and endurance (cross-country and short track). This streamlined structure will boost visibility and engagement across all formats.

A maximum of 20 gravity teams and 20 endurance teams will become UCI Mountain Bike World Series teams for the entire season.

For both categories, 15 invitations to join this top tier of teams will be based on the annual UCI team ranking, with an additional five teams benefiting from wildcard invitations for the season.

UCI Mountain Bike World Series teams will benefit from multi-year commitments from 2026 onwards, supporting long-term planning and development.

The UCI and WBD Sports will work closely with teams to offer increased exposure and marketing rights.

Teams will register official brand colours for promotional purposes, helping to create a cohesive and recognisable presence across events and media.

In addition to the UCI Mountain Bike World Series teams with season-long licences, at each round of the series, up to eight additional UCI teams will be given the opportunity to race as wildcard teams.

National Federations will retain their designated quota. Qualification will not be limited to teams: individual riders can qualify if they meet specific ranking criteria, or if they are reigning national, continental or UCI World Champions in their format, or Olympic champion (for cross-country Olympic).

There will also be the introduction of a new multi-round Continental Series, in close collaboration with cycling’s five continental confederations, which will act as a springboard for a spot at UCI World Cups and will give riders across different continents the chance to qualify for the UCI World Cups, promoting global participation and competitiveness. More details on these new Continental Series will be revealed by the UCI soon.

A new UCI Downhill World Cup qualifying system for elite riders will simplify the qualifying process and ensure the highest level of competition.

From 2025, all elite downhill riders will compete in a Qualifying 1 (Q1) round, with the top 20 men elite and top 10 women elite proceeding directly to finals. All remaining riders will compete in Qualifying 2 (Q2) round, where the top 10 men elite and top five women elite will secure their finals spot.

The protection status regulation will be removed, meaning that riders will no longer get preferential treatment because of their previous or current season’s results.

Only the best riders at each venue will make it through to the finals, with the number of women elite qualifying for the final increasing from 10 to 15.

In addition to changes to the teams’ hierarchy and qualifying systems, the 2025 reform will also see alterations to how riders and teams present themselves, with the aim of aiding fan engagement.

All former elite winners of a UCI World Cup round (in cross-country Olympic or downhill) who are still competing, will be required to select personal colours and a unique career number, adding individuality and a sense of legacy to the competition on top of helping build rider identities and bringing fans closer to the sport.

No. 1 will be exclusively reserved for the current leader of the UCI World Cup standings for each of the two formats, superseding their unique career number. The leader’s jersey and No. 1 plate will be awarded on the podium after each UCI World Cup.

A common decision has been made, in agreement with all the stakeholders involved in the UCI E-Enduro World Cup format, to press pause on the UCI E-Enduro World Cup to work with the industry towards a future format. However, E-Enduro will maintain its UCI World Championship status and will remain an open racing category at the UCI Enduro World Cup.

Moreover, men junior and women junior categories will be introduced for Enduro at the UCI World Championships, offering young athletes more opportunities to shine on the world stage.

UCI sports director Peter Van Den Abeele said: “The introduction of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series two years ago has led to significant growth of mountain bike and an increase in its popularity.

“Together with WBD Sports, the UCI wishes to build on the momentum with these changes that will simplify certain processes, favour globalisation, and make competition formats easier to follow and therefore even more exciting for the fans.”