UCI Confirms 2025 MTB World Series Changes

by 52

The UCI and Mountain Bike World Series organisers have issued a press release confirming what we were pretty sure was already happening, thanks to the leaked document we told you about last month. We’ve not had chance to sit down and read the detailed letter of the regulations, but it appears that the document we showed you has been adopted. Once again, no details of the promised Continental Series are available – which seems pretty critical to the career pathway for future racers. We’ll update you as soon as we here more, for now here’s the official PR:

KEY DEVELOPMENTS UNVEILED FOR THE WHOOP UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD SERIES

Significant updates to the UCI Regulations for the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike Word Series have been confirmed by the Union Cycliste Internationale.
 
These changes are designed to elevate the sport, create a clear pathway for athletes and enhance fan engagement beyond the core mountain biking community.

The new regulations are set to make the UCI World Cups more competitive while providing teams and athletes with greater opportunities for growth and visibility.

Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series global promoter, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports are announcing today amendments to the UCI Regulations for professional mountain biking. The 2025 season will see the biggest overhauls 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 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series. The series, that was 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 pathwayfor teams and riders to progress from National to 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.

ENHANCED COMPETITION

One of the biggest shifts is the change in the qualifying process for a 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 benefitting 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 recognizable 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 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.

NEW QUALIFYING SYSTEM FOR UCI DOWNHILL WORLD CUPS
 
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 5 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.
 
INTRODUCTION OF CAREER NUMBERS
 
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.
 
Number 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 number 1 plate will be awarded on the podium after each UCI World Cup.

ENDURO AND PAUSING OF E-ENDURO

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.

LOOKING AHEAD

The 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series will mark a bold step towards the future of mountain biking, fostering greater competitiveness and fan involvement.  

Chris Ball, Vice President of Cycling Events at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “These new developments mark a major turning point for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series and reflect our continued commitment to growing the sport, making it easier for fans around the world to follow their favorite teams and riders. I’m confident that it will further solidify the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series as the pinnacle of the sport”.

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.”

The 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series will mark a bold step towards the future of mountain biking, fostering greater competitiveness and fan involvement. These amendments to the UCI Regulations will come into force on 1st January 2025. All details are available on the UCI regulations’ page.

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Home Forums UCI Confirms 2025 MTB World Series Changes

  • This topic has 52 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 1 week ago by weeksy.
Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 52 total)
  • UCI Confirms 2025 MTB World Series Changes
  • 1
    weeksy
    Full Member

    I’m not sure the continental series makes any sense anyway TBH, the only reason the international racing makes sense is if the team takes the rider (or it’s a complete one-off).

    In Europe we already have this series in IXS and the up and coming racers in that will without doubt be getting chances on full race teams, like Casper Hickman for example. The rest have a pretty defined way in from the IXS to Worlds really. However the odds of any of these up and coming riders flying out to Aus/NZ, to Brazil and then MSA, well that’s unlikely to be financially viable for them, the only way to do that is to piggyback onto a pro team. So that does to an extent remove their options. But i don’t think it’ll make or break a fast EU racer anyway.

    It specifies National Federations will retain their quota… which is where the majority of up and coming racers (e.g Juniors) are going to get most of their chances to make it into WCs. As long as that stays longer term then i think it’ll be OK for them.

    The people who are going to miss out most of course are the non-juniors who are not on one of the full elite (or whatever they’re now called) teams, but this could also affect established teams too, think of Frameworks for example, they’ve got Asa Vermette the current world champ, but will he get a ride now,… Mmmmmmaybe.

    I don’t think the reality of all of these changes will be seen by most of the watching public, they’re only waiting for riders like your Bruni, Finn, Jackson etc… They’re not waiting for people like Preston Williams who will now be relegated to IXS/Something etc…  But those guys work HARD for their chances in WCs… Sadly, that looks to be going away for them.

    chakaping
    Full Member

    Some positives there, even if just undoing some of the bad decisions made before.

    Unique career numbers though? Is it just me that thinks that’s gimmicky BS?

    2
    weeksy
    Full Member

    I guess the rides can then make a brand out of it like Mm93, VR46, etc. they have a logo designed number which then gets to be their brand as much as anything

    2
    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    Unique career numbers though? Is it just me that thinks that’s gimmicky BS?

    Its a motocross thing (which I guess they are going for, especially in DH, as well as taking the bits they want from F1). Having a lifetime number, and getting it printed on your jersey. helps with rider recognition. Although they seem to have dropped the rumoured rule about keeping one kit per season?

    The number stays with you until you retire, and they pick in order of career wins. Please Greg, unretire yourself, pick Loics favourite number and then just never enter a race?

    3
    chakaping
    Full Member

    OK I take the point about personal branding, I suppose I just don’t like it – it feels a bit lame to be copping stuff off of MX. DH is amazing. Have the confidence to be your own sport.

    Plus I feel like they’ve got much bigger problems to spend time and effort addressing now anyway.

    ampthill
    Full Member

    In don’t know if personalised numbers help

    But as an xcc and xco viewer could really do with a clear guide to whose wearing what and when.

    For example Evie Richard currently rides XCC is the rainbow as world champion and navy blue Trek kit in XCO. Mix in say 10 national champs jerseys that are also different between Saturday and
    Sunday and it can get a bit head scratching

    1
    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Who’s gonna be first to register 69?

    1
    doomanic
    Full Member

    Jamie Whitham.

    chrismac
    Full Member

    All sounds perfectly reasonable to me 20 teams in gravity with no limit on the number of riders they can have. Then the 15 invitation team. That’s still alot of riders to have at the races.

    I agree the Continental series will be critical for those going to make the jumper to world level and being continental based should make them cheaper for riders to afford to do the whole series something that’s hard to do now even if you live in Europe

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    Jamie Whitham

    I was going to say whoever spends the most time upside down in a gravel trap 🙂

    reeksy
    Full Member

    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.”

    Wow (Or Whoop?).

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I agree the Continental series will be critical for those going to make the jumper to world level and being continental based should make them cheaper for riders to afford to do the whole series something that’s hard to do now even if you live in Europe


    @chrismac

    I don’t follow… explain a bit ?

    3
    mtnboarder
    Full Member

    @chrismac

    Its a 4 rider per category limit for the teams.

    And who’s picking up the bill for a Continental Series with less coverage and hence less return for sponsors?  Not WBD, from what Chris Ball said in the most recent interview. They’ve certainly cherry picked the most lucrative parts of the sport and are expecting others to cover the cost of brining new talent to their show.

    1
    ocrider
    Full Member

    It could be argued that due to huge participation numbers, the past WC race organisers were picking up the pieces because of a lack of infrastructure at lower levels. The attendance was so high because there was no viable feeder race circuit.

    I know that it will be argued that iXS was that series, but it was not created to run within any solid international framework. Even this season they initially had a calendar clash with a French DH cup in Les Arcs for their race in Les 2 Alpes. Adding the UEC administration to the organisational mix should hopefully put to bed any scheduling oversights.

    chrismac
    Full Member


    @chrismac

    I don’t follow… explain a bit ?

    Ok I will try.

    At the moment if you don’t happen to live in Europe there is nothing between national level racing and world cups. So any budding rider has to jump straight to world cups which as often discussed is very Europe centric. This is expensive if you don’t live in Europe and must be even harder for juniors if the are still at school or need parental supervision because of thier age.

    If the other major biking continents had a continental series that mirrored the ixs cup in Europe then 2 things could happen.

    firstly it would be more affordable to get to race at continental level events becuase you don’t need either long hall flights or to commit to moving to Europe for 6 months of the year, something especially hard for juniors.

    secondly if continental series become the gateway to world cups and where the elite teams spot the talent and allows riders to prove themselves then they will become more popular which hopefully will make them more attractive to organisers and resorts to put on.

    I may have a rose tinted view, but it is how most other sports work and grow talent so I dont see why dh is any different.

    The real question is why isn’t there a US continental series, or if there is it’s not well reported,

    1
    nickc
    Full Member

     I suppose I just don’t like it

    I consider myself a fan of the sport in so much as I’ll watch Vital’s practice videos on You Tube, and I often struggle to pick out who I’m watching unless I can recognize their kit or for some of the women, the hair poking out the back of the helmet. If I know that Bruni ha a giant number 1 on his shirt or Luca Shaw is 22 or whatever; then that’ll be cool.

    1
    nickc
    Full Member

    Also, good to see an increase in the numbers of women’s elite going through to the final. Good racing, and there’s plenty of talent coming through.

    pothead
    Free Member

    The real question is why isn’t there a US continental series, or if there is it’s not well reported,

    https://prodownhillseries.com/

    chrismac
    Full Member

    thanks @pothead

    wipperman95
    Free Member

    I’ve said this before, and I still think the same; Downhill & XC are too different, and should be run separately. Look at ski-ing. XC & Alpine are never run together, they’re completely different sports, as are Downhill, and XC in MTB. They quite often have different sets of fans – just look at Pinkbike, Vital, even on here……MTB racing usually means Gravity.

     

    I don’t think having one Promoter for all the different MTB racing disciplines is sensible. XCMarathon isn’t working, and is treated as a 2nd class sport……Enduro isn’t much better either.

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    Also, good to see an increase in the numbers of women’s elite going through to the final. Good racing, and there’s plenty of talent coming through.

    agreed. In past years, I would have agreed with the 10:30, 20:60, 20:80 gender splits. The lowest couple of women looked out of their depth.

    this year though, it’s been reversed. You could believe that any of the qualified women could win or podium.
    happy for someone to correct my maths but I think there are 8 current (un retired) women who have won a World Cup. Compared to 17 men. So a 2:1 split is fair. If they are all healthy at the same time that’s a hugely competitive event.

    darlobiker
    Full Member

    @chrismac being pedantic, you can’t have a us continental series because the us isn’t a continent.

    chrismac
    Full Member

    You’re quite correct. North American then

    1
    weeksy
    Full Member

    https://www.pinkbike.com/news/explainer-what-are-the-entry-pathways-for-the-2025-downhill-and-enduro-world-cups.html

     

    Well that’s going to shake it up over winter. Plenty of riders going to be moving teams now to bring their new squads into the automatic slots.

    Anna Newkirk, Coulanges, Hrastnik for example… they’ll all be prime contracts for 2025 as they bring a load of point to up the ante.

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    Downhill & XC are too different, and should be run separately

    OTOH, it makes for a great weekend of racing for fans. Get a full weekend of action and broadcast logistics don’t have to move.

    DH / XCO / XCC at Les Gets and for example Lenzerheide  together. It’s a great long weekend of action.

    chrismac
    Full Member

    Well that’s going to shake it up over winter. Plenty of riders going to be moving teams now to bring their new squads into the automatic slots.

    Anna Newkirk, Coulanges, Hrastnik for example… they’ll all be prime contracts for 2025 as they bring a load of point to up the ante.

    It certainly will. On the one had you will have riders as you suggest who ow have more value as they bring points to the team to get the team spots. Equally some of the teams will have more value as they have the points and so might be willing to take an up and comer who hasn’t got the points themselves. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

    The really vulnerable riders a those who have the points, but their team doesn’t and are part way through multi year contracts. Will they be able to get out of their contracts to move to a team that is racing? Time for their managers to read the small print in those contracts.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Will they be able to get out of their contracts to move to a team that is racing? Time for their managers to read the small print in those contracts

    Yeah that’s the question for a fair few i bet. There’s random outliers like the bloke from Malaysia and China who have points but don’t race WCs, they’d be worth signing just for letting them race their own series but giving the points.

    It’s all a bit bonkers and certainly for this year/25 i don’t know what’s going to happen but they seem to have put structures in place to move the dates closer to start of the season for 26 to align things a bit more.

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    Looks like it’s only the top 4 riders on your team that count, so handing out a few jerseys and a discounted bike, filling your team of 10, to ‘buy’ the points of people who have picked up a couple from some obscure national event might not be the way to go.

    nickc
    Full Member

    From the Pink bike explainer

    There is also the chance for a team to be given one of five wild card invitations, granted at the discretion of the UCI.

    Is that going to be attractive or viable for a team? set up. Employ people, commit to a seasons racing on the chance of an entry? Seems unlikely to me.

    chrismac
    Full Member

    Is that going to be attractive or viable for a team? set up. Employ people, commit to a seasons racing on the chance of an entry? Seems unlikely to me.

    I guess that depends on what that process is and timings. If it’s from existing teams and decisions are made in a timely manner so those teams not successful aren’t invested into next year and more importantly their riders and staff know the outcome in time to still make 2025 plans then fine. If it’s a slow process that takes too long then it really will be a shambles and unfair on those affected

    nickc
    Full Member

    I guess that depends on what that process is and timings.

    I guess so. I wonder how it works if you’re looking to become a team trying to break into World Cup racing though? That Pinkbike article isn’t that clear. At one point it talks about 5 wildcards team entries,and then 8 team entries?

    Five Wildcard Team Entries:

    If a team is not offered a World Series Team status then the next best option will be aiming for a season-long Wildcard entry. The season-long Wildcard entry will grant a maximum of five teams the full UCI MTB World Series status

    And at the same time…

    UCI MTB Team Wildcard

    If a team is not selected for World Series status then there is the chance to be selected for one of eight UCI MTB Team wildcards.

    Clear as mud

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I think the Wildcard of the first type gets you the full season

    Wildcard 2 gets you entry to a particular event.

    1
    dirkpitt74
    Full Member

    @weeksy – correct.

    Although for the type 2 wildcard one months notice of selection to compete is a bit harsh. Not much time to prepare or sort out accommodation etc.

    1
    mrhoppy
    Full Member

    None of the team invitation should be things the UCI have to learn though. It’s exactly the same process as the road uses. At the 3 grand tours all world tour teams go plus 3 (I think) wild card teams get an invite.

    dirkpitt74
    Full Member

    Here’s a question.

    The new Continental series – is that a series spread across the continent or a series for each continent?

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Neither.

    Sadly.

    1
    ocrider
    Full Member

    Who’s to say?

    As I understand it, uniquely from a European perspective, the series will be comprised of races that are part of national cup races and standalone events.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Well WBD ain’t going to set up a series, so that’s all it can be currently. No one can design and set up a euro series in the next 4 months for example.

    So something like an IXS, UK national, Portugal cup, french cup but all given a title as Euro Conti Series is possible I guess. All they have to do then is allocate points and give it a name

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    That’s interesting if they do some combination of existing events. Might be a logistical challenge for the lower teams and the semi pros to do them all.
    I had assumed it was going to be the IXS did Europe and the monster series* for NA.

    * 25 will be much the same as 24, but I’ve seen rumours in two separate places of a big expansion/change for the 26 season.

    Speeder
    Full Member

    I love that WB and the UCI seem to think that the sport is so rich that it can afford to support all these new events and the level of professionalism it expects at the new World Cup series.  Hopefully the increased exposure they’re bringing (lol) will bring in a host of new outside sponsors with deep pockets.

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