Leaked document reveals MTB World Cup plans for 2025

by 100

In a leaked document titled ‘2025 MTB Reform, Evolution of Mountain Bike Racing’, the UCI and Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) set out proposed changes for the racing year ahead.

Now, obviously this document has been leaked to us, and perhaps it’s a ‘pre-production prototype’ to be replaced by a future draft, but its contents certainly match much of what the pit-talk has been recently.

For an in-depth discussion of this document among those who frequent the race circuit, talk to team managers on a regular basis, and are in daily contact with pro-riders, we recommend you tune in to the Making Up The Numbers podcast. Here’s our take – and questions – about how next year’s season will shape up, and the potential impact for the industry. Remember – this is what we think we’re seeing, and the document we have is of the presentation variety, rather than a full UCI rule book or race handbook.

The Disciplines

It appears that there are plans to tighten up the categories, with 0-100mm travel being XC, Enduro being restricted to 140-160mm, and DH being 180mm and up. At least, we think that’s what’s being suggested – it’s not completely clear if it will be a UCI-style technical restriction, or just that courses will be designed with these types of bikes in mind. E-Enduro’s World Cup is to be ‘paused’, although it appears that the E-Enduro World Series may continue.

For bike companies that have invested in the burly 170-180mm travel enduro race bikes, this may come as quite a blow – although these will surely remain a popular choice among the bike park riding public. Likewise, brands that have invested heavily in lightweight e-enduro race bikes may also feel short changed. The document suggests that during the ‘pause’ there will be discussions with brands as to the future format – one might assume that this will be looking to define some of the technical parameters, such as battery capacity, torque, and perhaps whether you can swap batteries during the event? Whatever decisions are made here, it will be interesting to see whether the consumer market is all that bothered – like performance cars vs daily drivers, you might well imagine that the average e-MTB rider doesn’t care too much for the race performance stuff, instead seeking out durability and ride quality.

There is to be a rule change to allow ‘HC’ events (Hors Category, the top level courses) to take place in more countries – currently, events can only be classified as HC after three years of being a C1 event, as well as other conditions associated with the level of riders attending the event. Changing these rules could potentially allow brand new events to enter the calendar – potentially creating an opportunity for countries or locations wanting to create an Olympic-like spectacle to spotlight the scene. On the one hand, this could make things interesting and open up new riding destinations – but on the other perhaps there’s a risk of ‘highest bidder’ destinations, as we’ve arguably seen happen in football and the Olympics.

There’s a clear expectation that DH will be ‘3 minutes of racing’. We already saw the Fort William track being sped up and straightened out to reduce the race times – will long courses like it be a thing of the past?

The Teams

There’s big news here for teams, in that there will be a maximum of 20 World Series Teams for Gravity (Enduro and DH), and 20 World Series Teams for Endurance (XC and Short Track). These teams will get the ‘all inclusive’ package of hospitality, paddock access, and race entries. 15 of the teams will be invited to be ‘World Series Teams on the basis of their previous year’s results, while 5 will be ‘wildcards’ given invitations on the basis of a matrix (more on that in a minute). Top 10 teams will be given ‘World Series Team’ status for two years. This level of team must field at least one rider at every World Cup event for DH or XCO.

The 5 wildcards will be given invitations to attend all races in a year on the basis of a matrix scoring system, which will take into account:

  • UCI MTB team ranking, current & previous season
  • Profile of any individual athletes
  • Team composition (multi-category, multi-gender)
  • Profile of team sponsors (out of industry, global, etc.)
  • Media profile of team (social media, etc.)
  • Any injury issues during current or previous season
  • Anti-doping history

There will also be ‘UCI Mountain Bike Teams’ who can apply to be in the wildcard pool for individual events. These are pitched as a sort of ‘development team’ for the World Series Teams, and teams will be able to partner up. The UCI Mountain Bike Teams will not get guaranteed entry to races, and will have more limited race-side perks.

Teams can have a minimum of 3 riders and a maximum of 10 riders. Each team can field a maximum of 4 riders per event, and a World Series Team can field a partnered development team rider for an event if desired.

Eight of the ‘UCI MTB Teams’ in the wildcard pool will receive invites to individual events on the basis of a matrix, which takes into account:

  • UCI MTB team ranking, current & previous season
  • Profile of any individual athletes
  • Team composition (multi-category, multi-gender)
  • Profile of team sponsors (out of industry, global, etc.)
  • Media profile of team (social media, etc.)
  • Any injury issues during current or previous season
  • Anti-doping history
  • Home country of team
  • Continental Series team standing

The ‘profile’ elements are interesting. Will we see influencers and/or big brands getting invites over the top of low-key but fast riders? It would certainly add a new layer of nuance to team structures and sponsorship. The pressure to take on a high profile sponsor regardless of their ethics or fit with the sport might well grow – is this a huge sports-washing opportunity in the making?

While there’s the potential for those outside the (can we say cosseted?) World Series teams to get into a race, and perhaps even into finals, the invitational element seems to stack things against them. The document we’ve seen says invitations will be issued 4 weeks prior to the event – which doesn’t leave much room for booking flights, hotels, mechanics, support etc. They certainly won’t be able to book travel etc months in advance and take advantage of lower prices.

The attendance requirement will surely favour teams with a budget big enough to afford riders on the bench – or a development team partner. Perhaps there’s a risk here that riders on smaller teams may find themselves under pressure to compete before injuries are fully healed, in order to meet the attendance quota?

On the plus side, it’s good to see that multi-gender teams will be favoured – this should encourage teams to have more women than many do at present.

Individuals

There appears to still be a pathway to racing for individuals, although the logistics seem stacked in favour of the top flight ‘World Series Teams’.

Individuals will be able to enter through one of the following:

  • National Federation quota – Elite: 3 per race, U23 XCO and Junior DHI: 4 per race
  • Top 5 individual riders from previous season
  • Continental Series overall standing
  • Top 5 individual riders from each Continental Series round, ‘Golden ticket’ for 1 round of The UCI World Cup within the current season
  • Any current National, Continental, Olympic or UCI World Champion
  • In XCO Elite, any rider ranked in the top-100 of the UCI ranking
  • In XCO U23, any rider ranked in the top-200 of the UCI ranking
  • In DHI Elite, any rider ranked in the top-50 of the UCIranking
  • In DHI Junior, any rider ranked in the top-100 of the UCI ranking

That does look to give lots of opportunities for individuals to enter, although we’re not clear on the fees that would be required, or the level of support/facilities available to them. The ‘World Series Team’ status appears to bring with it a degree of all-inclusive comfort and access, so it might be reasonable to assumer that these perks would not be available to individuals or lesser status teams.

What Is The Continental Series?

At present, this doesn’t exist, but the document we’ve seen suggests it will create a pathway to elite racing. However, it’s not clear whether WBD and/or the UCI will be funding these – like Premiership football clubs do with grassroots and youth squads – or whether it’s just a notion at this stage. What WBD/UCI is envisaging is:

  • Series consisting of between 4 – 8 rounds per Continent
  • Coordinated by Confederations / National Federations
  • Comprises events registered on the UCI calendar
  • Where possible HC class events (Cross-country, Downhill)
  • Separate races for Junior, U23 & Elite
  • Open participation, not restricted to only riders from that continent
  • Series Standings for individuals & UCI Teams
  • Parity across confederations. A rider’s best 4 rounds count for final continental series standings

Riders in the UK with an eye on pro racing may well want to start planning how to spend a chunk of time in Europe…

If the Continental Series get proper funding, it could spell a bright future with clear pathways through racing – but race organising is a tough job, and chasing races across a continent is a big ask for an individual or small team. It’ll take proper funding – and likely some broadcast coverage – to make this viable for many.

Race Day Changes

There are some big changes proposed for Downhill, with rider protection being scrapped. This might be a welcome leveller in a set up that seems like it will be tough for those outside the top flight.

Elite DH finals will see 30 men and 15 women competing. To get there, everyone will have to ride a Q1 qualifying round. The top 20 men and top 10 women will then go straight into the Final. For those outside those top spots, there’ll be a Q2 qualifying round, from which the fastest 10 men and 5 women will be added to the Finals start list.

Have a mechanical or a crash in Q1, and you’ll have to ride Q2 to bag those last Finals spots – even if you’re the World Champion. No protection means no one gets a free entry. Exciting – yes. But it also means that the riders who are likely to be outside the top flight and with the least support are going into the Finals the most tired, with two runs behind them. It’s a strong incentive to do well in Q1, which should make for exciting viewing… except that qualifying is not listed as being broadcast anywhere.

Can We Watch It?

Broadcasting seems to be a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Juniors and Elites will get live broadcasts for most of the races, but the U23 XC events won’t be broadcast when the weekend is also hosting DH. It’s only Finals being broadcast, with no mention of any coverage for qualifications, or enduro.

There’s a bunch of ‘Fan Activations’ and press conference time listed into the sample weekend schedules, but there’s no track walk, and no details on any other media options. It would have been nice to see other broadcasters being able to show qualifications, for example.

Pick Your Number

It appears that there is to be more emphasis on riders as personalities, and teams as brands, with new rules around kit colours and branding. Riders will also be able to choose a ‘career’ number, so you can follow rider 101 until they retire, or whatever. The current series leader will swap out for plate 01 for each race, and will also get a Leaders’ Jersey.

Who will claim lucky number 7? Should we raise an eyebrow at whoever chooses 88? Will someone cheekily want 69? Or someone new age want 111? Will numerolgy consultants be added to the list of expenses?

In Brief

That’s quite the list. What does it add up to? The document we’ve seen says the goals are:

  • Elevate the UCI World Cup – Elevate the pinnacle of the sport through more focused racing. Celebrating the world’s best riders and teams
  • Create a pathway – Build a strong sporting pathway for riders and teams. From National to Continental, to UCI World Cup
  • Multi-year commitments to teams – Support long-term planning, budgeting, athlete contracts, infrastructure development
  • Team focus – Greater exposure for brands, increased value of teams
  • Clear rules, build rider identities – Increase the promotion of riders, build heroes and increase fan engagement
  • Promotion – To provide more opportunities for marketing, media and fan engagement

It does feel to us like there’s a big emphasis on teams, especially on a handful of elite teams. We can’t help but wonder how many brands will be able to afford it.

While it’s great to watch the best riders duke it out on ever tighter margins on the clock, there has always been a great joy, especially in DH racing, in seeing the privateer who has the run of their life. It seems like the chances of this happening – of a Ronan Dunne of the future – are being made slimmer.

There are the right buzz words being used around progression and pathways, but the reality will depend hugely on the implementation of the Continental Series, and any federation support. Otherwise it’s all a bit like the fable of the stone and the soup – who is going to provide the vegetables?

We’ve asked Warner Brothers Discovery for comment and will update you if we hear back.

How does all this sound to you? Give the Making Up the Numbers podcast a listen too (also linked below), then add your thoughts to the comments.

Update 16th September: Here’s the document we received:

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I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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Home Forums Leaked document reveals MTB World Cup plans for 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 100 total)
  • Leaked document reveals MTB World Cup plans for 2025
  • reeksy
    Full Member

    OMG every single round in France!

    2
    john dough
    Free Member

    Leaked document and no mention of taking away their bus passes

    4
    bentudder
    Full Member

    JFC. Another Project 2025? Is there some sort of tombola prize for this nonsense? Thanks for bringing this to wider attention, STW peeps. Good reporting.

    Friday-night-just-got-back-from-local-cricket-prizegiving-grade(tm) analysis:

    1)Way to turn the faffing sport into some sort of full-kit-w**ker F1-style dorkfest – unless, of course, this is some sort of intentional leak to soften the blow of something a bit less clipboardy and blazery. I feel sorry for the riders, mechanics, support staff and teams, mildly impressed for all the companies selling baseball caps, unimaginative open mould bikes and replica kit.

    2) Two effing hours for a podcast? Life’s too short. Can we not just have the article(s) to read? That’s a quarter of my day. Seriously. I used to top out at 20 minutes per episode with the ones I ran – as a courtesy to my poor bloody listeners.

    3) My bikes are 130mm travel. Can I ride my bike now, or do I need to set them all on fire and sit on a sofa?

    4) There’s a thread on the forum about how, because no-one on the forum apparently watches DH, we must all hate it. I think there’s a ton of fatigue post-Red Bull, and a huge split between actual participation and passive viewing. I doubt I’ll ever buy a Discovery Channel sub, but I’ll sure as hell buy another bike.

    5) Can we see the full document without it compromising the source?

    3
    chrismac
    Full Member

    I don’t see where the emphasis on a small number of teams comes from. The proposal is for 40 of them with between 3 and 10 riders plus the other ways to enter sounds like a lot of riders being able to compete.

    The continental series are the critical part the plan to give privateers a route into the elite and get places on the world teams in a relatively affordable series, especially if the world cups go more global

    2
    benpinnick
    Full Member

    The proposal is for 40 of them with between 3 and 10 riders plus the other ways to enter sounds like a lot of riders being able to compete.

    That’s 40 over 4 disciplines, but not really as the ’15’ will all likely be mixed discipline big teams. Trek, Spec etc. They’ve left 5 places for others across DH and Enduro, and 5 XC and SC. The reality is it will be less than 30 teams across all mtb disciplines.

    Some people might think that’s enough, but I think part of the appeal of dh Vs other big sports has always been it’s open nature. If you’re good enough as a racer you can race. Now if you’re good enough you’ll still have to find a place on one of 20-30 teams. Sure there’s other ways to get an entry, but without a team backing you every round, for most it’s just lip service, and given ews history of sponsor blackouts for racers that don’t ride for a team that paid the team tax, I expect they’d think it fine to extend that into the other disciplines meaning if you’re sponsored by someone outside the top teams you should expect almost zero coverage, no matter how well you do.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    Cant see it mentioned in this article but Wideopenmag has a provisional schedule. If it’s true they’re running 14 DH races next year!

    UCI Releases A Monster Provisional 2025 World Cup Schedule.

    2
    ampthill
    Full Member

    It’s problematic writing from a leak when you don’t know what its status is. Did the intern write to keep them busy or has a full UCI committee endorsed it?

    Having to be in a team would mean no Candice Lille in the XC this year. That’s shooting themselves in the foot as she’s been on podiums and generates a good chunk of the interest

    I do have a Discovery plus subscription. I watch the xc but not much downhill. I found the downhill confusing after the changes

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    Hard to interpret what the team changes mean at the lower level but I’m assuming this spells the end for an Adam Brayton type rider?

    4
    BruceWee
    Full Member

    I really hope the suspension travel thing is just a guideline.  The last thing mountain bike racing needs is the UCI’s input (in the form of mandatory rules) on how bikes should be designed.

    5
    clubby
    Full Member

    Hard to interpret what the team changes mean at the lower level but I’m assuming this spells the end for an Adam Brayton type rider?

    In the top flight, yes. However if the changes are properly implemented, he’d have a chance of racing the continental series and potentially be at the sharp end.

    I’m typing the following as someone who has finished in the bottom 5% of every race I’ve ever entered. We need to thin the field. Adam is a talented rider but with all due respect, doesn’t have what it takes to win a World Cup event. He’s raced year on year with the sole goal of qualifying. The World Cup needs to be filled with genuine contenders. All other professional sports have a tiered series and mtb is lacking this. We need the feeder series to give young riders time to mature and let the real talents come through. It does have the downside of losing the out of nowhere runs, such as Ronan Dunne’s meteoric rise but with the right continental series riders like him would still get their shot at the big time.

    I think we’d all like more races, but with the current fields, the number of venues with infrastructure needed to accommodate everyone is very limited. Smaller fields would allow different places to host races that just wouldn’t be possible at the moment. We also need to make it a true World Series. Heading to the southern hemisphere cost a huge amount, but a smaller number of better funded big teams would mean this would be possible. Privateer’s could race their nearest continental series and keep costs down. If they are good enough, they’ll get picked up by a big team and move up. Unfortunately this all rests on series that don’t even exist yet. I can see a lot of pain and complaints in the short term and some riders may well fall between the cracks.

    1
    Kuco
    Full Member

    The XC travel has got longer as the courses have became more extreme makes no sense to limit travel to 100mm.
    Totally agree about Candice Lill, she’s had a great season this year.

    1
    cookeaa
    Full Member

    It all really depends what the brief was doesn’t it, if WDB/UCI told whoever drafted it that they wanted to drive more elitism and cost into the sport, whilst making things easier to package for broadcast then many of those proposals would work quite well.

    The idea of ‘wildcard’ teams/riders being picked based on Social media profile is an interesting one, clearly they’ve taken note of how the Lifetime Grand Prix operates.

    The tech regs setting travel limits are interesting, not necessarily an issue (I do note the image is headed “Sport and Product alignment“), but I wonder how that would affect national and regional series if it’s cascaded down, I for example happen to own a bike that doesn’t sit in any of those travel brackets, not that I would trouble the podium, but I can’t see it helping uptake if implemented further down the competitive tree.

    Ultimately you have to wonder how it’s all going to shake out once there’s a shift in WBD management and they drop cycling and meddling with the UCI (as they inevitably will)…

    3
    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    We need to thin the field. Adam is a talented rider but with all due respect, doesn’t have what it takes to win a World Cup event.

    While that is true, the sport has always had high profile riders that were never going to win a race series, yet their media presence was more than just winning races. A perfect example is Brendan Fairclough. A huge inspiration to kids and adults, yet as a racer. Only ever managed 3 podiums in his career, never finishing higher than 3rd, qualified outside the proposed top 30 a lot. A similar story for Brook MacDonald, Mark Wallace, Ben Cathro etc

    Funnily enough, looking at Chris Ball’s race history, of the 26 world cups he raced, he only scraped into the top 30 qualifiers once.

    This is a sport that’s more than just about race glory

    Shaun Palmer is etched in the history of MTB racing, yet his actual race results aren’t the stuff of legend, it was his image and attitude that made him what he was. 

    With these proposed changes, the characters that, for me at least, are the most interesting, will potentially be lost

    steveh
    Full Member

    @boardinbob qualification was top 80 when Chris ball was racing.


    @brucewee
    this is nothing to do with the uci. It’s Warner brothers.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    qualification was top 80 when Chris ball was racing.

    I know that, I’m pointing out that the sport is more than just the top 30 riders

    BruceWee
    Full Member

    @brucewee this is nothing to do with the uci. It’s Warner brothers.

    Did you read the article?

    If there are going to be technical rules governing how mountain bikes are designed it’ll come from the UCI.

    4
    Northwind
    Full Member

    The travel stuff just seems… deranged? That’s just something that doesn’t need regulated whatsoever. What’s the benefit supposed to be? Just let the riding dictate the bikes and let people ride what works.

    1
    moonsaballoon
    Full Member

    The travel stuff just seems… deranged? That’s just something that doesn’t need regulated whatsoever. What’s the benefit supposed to be? Just let the riding dictate the bikes and let people ride what works.

    Definitely , I can’t see who this benefits. I would of thought the industry wouldn’t be to happy either , the specialized Enduro would have too much travel to be ridden in an Enduro .

    It seems to assume that teams will be able to find the budget to do all this as well . My understanding was  the reason the Enduro season was all in Europe this year was at the request of the teams in order to keep costs down and I’d be surprised if a year later their budgets have grown much .

    2
    LAT
    Full Member

    E-Enduro’s World Cup is to be ‘paused’, although it appears that the E-Enduro World Series may continue

    I thought the World Series was the World Cup. This makes me realize how much I don’t understand mountain bike racing

    DickBarton
    Full Member

    The travel thing sort of makes sense if it is the UCI as they don’t want advantages that can be exploited. They are about the rider being the best and the bikes being very similar to not give an advantage.

    BruceWee
    Full Member

    They are about the rider being the best and the bikes being very similar to not give an advantage.

    I’d disagree with that.  The road bikes you see on TV look the way they do because the UCI wrote the rules so that bikes still look like bikes and not Chris Boardman’s Lotus.

    Travel would be such an arbitrary thing to police.  More travel comes with compromises and doesn’t always mean advantages.  If it did then all Enduro privateers would be riding modified Nicolai G1s with 210mm travel at each end.

    I really hope this is just a guideline for track designers that has been badly worded.

    pothead
    Free Member

    Wideopenmag has a provisional schedule. If it’s true they’re running 14 DH races next year!

    Sure I’ve read that every round of the DH and Enduro world cups will be in Europe

    Kuco
    Full Member

    Having more travel doesn’t always mean better, some rounds are won on hardtails in the xc, varies on the course they are racing on to what some riders choose.

    1
    ocrider
    Full Member

    I really hope this is just a guideline for track designers that has been badly worded.

    It reads more like a brief presentation of the bikes used in each discipline, for the benefit of somebody totally alien to the sport, but written five years ago.

    1
    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Sure I’ve read that every round of the DH and Enduro world cups will be in Europe

    That’s certainly what that WideOpenMag article (fixed link) suggests – all rounds of all disciplines bar the first 2 XCO in Europe. Pinkbike comments will be frothing!

    chrismac
    Full Member

    What’s the benefit supposed to be?

    Sell more bikes. The peadable dh bikes that some of the riders are using won’t be bought by many. A boat full of 150 ish travel bikes with good geo will sell well. The purpose of racing is to sell more bikes

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    Sell more bikes. The peadable dh bikes that some of the riders are using won’t be bought by many. A boat full of 150 ish travel bikes with good geo will sell well. The purpose of racing is to sell more bikes

    for enduro I can see the logic (although I’d rather the courses changed to favour the smaller bikes rather than a blunt rule)

    but making xc 100mm (or any other equipment rule) is going to undo everything great that has happened to XC over the past 5+ years.

    roger_mellie
    Full Member

    I got as far as

    There’s a clear expectation that DH will be ‘3 minutes of racing’. We already saw the Fort William track being sped up and straightened out to reduce the race times – will long courses like it be a thing of the past?

    before my forehead hit the table.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Has Fort William really been “sped up” in that way? I mean, there’s a bunch of changes on the track that do make it faster but mostly they’re totally logical and in keeping with the track improvements that have been happening for years. Like, the big doon is far faster than the old line through the woods onto the road but not just to be faster. The section down to the river gap is straighter and faster but when the hoofer was first built the line into it was frankly bizarre, just slow and awkward, and some of the new options in the woods are slower than the classic lines (but more durable/less weather destroyable, for obvious reasons)

    It seems to me that only the last bit above teh woods really feels like it’s been “straightened out” in this way but even that is largely about trail lifecycle things, it’s fresher than the old line so it’s smoother but in 5 years time it’ll be just as haggard. T

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    Two effing hours for a podcast? Life’s too short. Can we not just have the article(s) to read? That’s a quarter of my day. Seriously. I used to top out at 20 minutes per episode with the ones I ran – as a courtesy to my poor bloody listeners.

    Whateveer happened to brevity being the soul of wit?

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Lots of interesting points and lots of things to take into the future thoughts. I really do hope they still keep the sport open to the general riders, but i can sort of see why they won’t.. However this sadens me.

    1
    dirkpitt74
    Full Member

    I Listened to the Chris Ball podcast the other week.

    I could see where he was coming from on some of the issues with overall number of riders etc, 400 riders each for the DH & XC at Les Gets is an insane number.

    But, what they don’t want to do is make it too small, agree with the above about some of the personalities who aren’t regular podium or even top 30 contenders – all sports need personalities that people can relate too.

    No mention of the increased entry fees in that document though?

    The Lou Ferguson interview sheds a bit of light on the fact that the teams don’t even know what’s going on, and that thing will be different for Elite teams and Non-Elite Teams.

    All a bit of a mess really, you’d have thought that they’d have sorted this in time for teams/riders to know where they stand for next year.

    Hoping that they keep Fort William (no way you could get that to a 3 minute course) – perhaps they could do what F1 does with Monaco and others for Historic purposes they’re kept on the calendar.

    1
    chakaping
    Full Member

    Thanks for posting this STW. The pod was a really interesting listen, great work George & co.

    In that article, am I right in thinking you’ve posted the WB graphics with your own copy in between?

    I can’t see a link to the actual doc anywhere? Did I miss it?

    Looks like a mix of positive measures, things I could grudgingly accept and a good dose of bollocks as well. Particularly the little descriptions under each discipline on that graphic.

    My interpretation, from listening to the pod, was that these are WB’s proposals to the UCI. Who may knock some of them back. Especially if this leak goes down like a cup of cold sick.

    mtnboarder
    Full Member

    I think the suspension thing is likely to be part of a simpletons guide aimed at explaining the difference to higher ups within WBD rather than a proposed rule.

    As for creating the “Continental Series”, Chris Ball recently said that’s not his responsibility and he’s only concerned with the World Series, effectively passing the buck when it all goes wrong. So he’s expecting others to pick up the bill for both the rider development and event management that he can then sell once they become “Elite”.

    As for Fort William, it’s done and not happening next year according to locals in the know. Not only was the course sped up this year, but the Start and Finish lines were moved to cut the length as well.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    As for Fort William, it’s done and not happening next year according to locals in the know.

    That IMO is just a complete sodding disaster for the sport. Both as a whole and in terms of UK… Just a complete shit-show that

    BruceWee
    Full Member

    By the way, am I the only one who can’t find the podcast?

    3
    stwhannah
    Full Member

    We took the podcast down at George’s request because there’s a bit he wants to edit, but he’s been away racing all weekend (he missed the track walk and Friday evening race prep rushing this podcast through for us!). It’ll be back up as soon as we get the new file from him.

    And I haven’t shared the full document, because if I did that, then everyone could write a story about it, couldn’t they?! Then it wouldn’t be a scoop – I figured folks can go find their own secret sauces :-) For now, that seems to be working – I haven’t seen another site post anything about it.

    1
    weeksy
    Full Member

    I think he crashed in the race too :(

    Possibly multiple times looking at his splits.

    1
    nickc
    Full Member

    Travel would be such an arbitrary thing to police.

    I don’t think they are. The wider plan for the UCI and Warner is to bring mountain bike racing to a wider audience, who probably don’t know the XC/Enduro/DH riders are on different bikes, or what the differences are and why. I can see them setting out categories (like weight classes in combat sports) to give folks who’re new to it all a ready reckoner to the sport they find themselves watching.

     

    3
    BruceWee
    Full Member

    I don’t think they are. The wider plan for the UCI and Warner is to bring mountain bike racing to a wider audience, who probably don’t know the XC/Enduro/DH riders are on different bikes, or what the differences are and why. I can see them setting out categories (like weight classes in combat sports) to give folks who’re new to it all a ready reckoner to the sport they find themselves watching.

    The trouble with that is that instead of getting bikes that are designed for us punters to ride we get bikes that are primarily designed to meet the requirements of eligibility for racing.

    Even if 99.99% of these bikes will never go anywhere near a race course, they’ll still all have to be built for these arbitrary specs.

    See every road bike ever.

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