The organisers confirm that this year’s UCI Enduro World Cup will be the last.
Well, it’s official. UCI-sanctioned World Cup level mountain bike enduro racing is no more.
Certainly from a multi-event series point of view. The World Championships one-off event will still happen in 2027 onwards. (This year’s Enduro World Champs are in Finale-Liguria on October 16-18 by the way.)
You can read the full PR at the end of this article.
Why did elite enduro racing die?
Whilst this is far from good news, it’s hardly unexpected. The enduro boomtime years are quite a while ago now. What were the causes for Elite-level international enduro racing’s slow demise?
As with most things, there is no single reason. Or is there? I think there may be a rather simple explanation. Namely, enduro racing is a participation sport. It is not a spectator sport. Not in a remote way anyway. Watching enduro racing in person can be great. But watching it on a screen? Not so much.
I don’t think that having full-on TV coverage of the racing would have made any difference to the… er, indifference.
Enduro was never a World Series sport
The oft-mocked ‘Spirit of Enduro’ is a nebulous concept. But I think at its heart, enduro racing is about specific location. Enduro’s essence is not National, let alone Global. Enduro is regional. Enduro is local.
Imposing an international UCI-tastic series format on to enduro always felt like an ill fit to me. Enduro doesn’t work as a World Series. And that’s fine. Not everything in cycling has to be overseen by the Swiss overlords.
Local enduro racing is still thriving
As repeatedly shown in our series of The State of UK Enduro articles, enduro as a participation sport is still in a healthy state. Just look at the turnout at Ard Rock, or Nishma Sreshtha on finding freedom in enduro. Pretty much every one of us has a relatively nearby enduro that they could go along to and have a good time. As well as enduro being ‘a state of mind maaan’, the best aspect of enduro racing is undoubtedly its social side. It’s way more social than Downhill racing. It’s even more social than XC racing (which is actually very social) in my opinion.
Just because international enduro ‘died’ under the Warner Bros x UCI’s watch, doesn’t mean enduro itself is dead. Enduro will live on just fine thanks.
Press Release in full…
A NEW CHAPTER FOR ENDURO
UCI Enduro World Cup to conclude its current format after 2026 season
UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships to become the flagship events of the format from 2027
19 August 2026 – Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today announce that the 2026 UCI Enduro World Cup will be the final season of Enduro under the current UCI World Cup structure.
The decision reflects a shared belief that each mountain bike format has its own unique characteristics, community and development pathway, and that long-term success requires an approach tailored to its specific needs and ambitions. WBD Sports and the UCI believe that Enduro’s future will be best served through a structure designed specifically around the format’s unique identity, one that offers greater flexibility in its operating framework, more room for innovation and a stronger focus on participation and community engagement.
For over a decade, the Enduro World Series (EWS) and WBD Sports, have played a key role in helping drive the growth, professionalisation and international reach of Enduro, both at elite and amateur levels. Together with athletes, teams, organisers, partners and fans, they have helped elevate the format to new heights, broadening its reach and strengthening its position within the mountain bike landscape. Since Enduro’s integration into the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, the format has benefited from increased visibility and exposure as part of a broader mountain biking platform.
Among the most significant milestones of this period was the launch of the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships in 2024, cementing Enduro’s place on the sport’s biggest stage. While the UCI Enduro World Cup concludes at the end of the 2026 season, the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships will continue and take on even greater significance as the pinnacle events of the format. The UCI World Championships will become the focal point of the global Enduro calendar, bringing together the sport’s best athletes and serving as the flagship celebration of the Enduro community.
The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships will take place in the Finale Outdoor Region (Liguria, Italy) from 16 to 18 October, bringing the world’s leading riders to what is widely regarded as the spiritual home of Enduro.
The format’s future on the world stage is also secured for 2027, with Enduro and E-Enduro confirmed as part of the UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie, France. Among the venues selected for this landmark event is Morillon and the Grand Massif region, fresh from hosting last week’s 2026 UCI Enduro World Cup finale, which attracted more than 500 professional and amateur riders. In 2027, the French destination will once again welcome the world’s best Enduro athletes as they compete for the sport’s most prestigious title and the iconic rainbow jersey.
While the path forward is still being defined, conversations are underway among the venues, organisers and stakeholders who have helped shape the sport over the past decades. Drawing on their deep understanding of Enduro and its community, they are exploring new opportunities to ensure its continued growth and long-term sustainability, while staying true to the values that have made Enduro unique: participation, adventure, creativity and a shared passion for the ride, where the journey is every bit as important as the result. This includes initiatives such as the integration of Enduro Open side events at selected WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series weekends.
By giving Enduro the freedom to continue evolving on its own terms, this transition represents the beginning of a new chapter for a discipline with a rich heritage, a passionate community, and many more stories still to tell.
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Ooft. As a platform for Chris ball to co adopt, steal and monetise DH it served its purpose. Or am I wrong?
I agree. I’ve always said Enduro was like sailing – great participation and crap TV….
Easy to be cynical about it but it was a pretty great thing at its height- I was lucky enough to “compete" in 2 rounds, I was essentially last but still, it was an incredible event, and a huge booster for the sport. Couldn’t personally give much of a damn about it any more, if I’m honest but I’m still sad to hear it’s going.
What a shame. It was the best discipline to watch and participate in. The highlights this year have been excellent. Clearly wbd couldn’t work out how to monetise it to their satisfaction and the cycle industry lost interest in supporting it for its own reasons.
im not sure how a standalone world champs will work. Who will participate if all the pros are no longer professional enduro racers. Are we going to have weekend warriors who are fast or dh riders looking for a rainbow jersey they can’t use at dh races?
I feel sorry for all those who now need to find alternative employment as their jobs have just disappeared
No, you’re not wrong. Coupled with some of the stories I’ve heard recently about his behaviour to businesses in the tweed valley, I sincerely hope his next bowel movement is a particularly prickly pineapple
I disagree, I really enjoy watching the highlights. It’s not the same as DH runs, of course, but variety is a good thing.
My analogy is that Enduro is to DH what WRC is to F1.
I also think in the social media age it’s important to have racing role models for upcoming riders – sure there’ll be plenty of social media content from riders that used to do EWS (Dan Booker, Jack Moir etc), but as bike brands have stepped away from supporting racing it’s actually commercialising riding even more. Riders have increasingly had to turn to other forms of sponsorship. I don’t begrudge them an income, but it means more BS advertising for supplements and other non-cycling related crap.
It may be different in the UK, but worldwide I expect it’s erroneous to suggest that a local enduro scene will thrive without the global. I don’t think my regional series existed before EWS, and i’m not sure that it will have the same allure in the future.
I’m hoping to do make up the number at Trans NZ in a couple of years. I hope the Trans- enduro (not that type of trans!) organisers can get together and create a true world series.
Not a fan of how it’s been run, but you can’t run a professional World Series when manufacturers won’t support it. Can’t blame them though. Like it or not, the enduro category is all about the e-bike these days. Why spend loads of money promoting bikes that aren’t selling in any great amount, when e-bikes sell themselves?
The EWS is dead as we know it. The current owners are in it to make money and that’s not so much to do with the sport as viewing figures, clicks and eyeballs. Streaming, content leading to advertising, sales into sponsorship.
The ones to feel for are the riders and their support teams and service companies. It’s their living.
The sport will live on in its local and regional levels as the demand for participation in the format is still significant. We had 400 at our wee event in the North East (Scotland) at the weekend. Smiles all round. It’s still the way most folks ride their mountain bikes after all.
Watching Enduro doesn’t have the same edge-of-seat experience as DH or even XC. Split across multiple stages there isn’t much sense of immediate excitement, just people riding bikes – albeit very well. Similar to golf and WRC (as someone said above).
what a surprise the UCI ruin everything!
Not many support teams anymore. There’s got to be some value in order for them to want to be involved.
Can’t really blame the manufacturers if they no longer see any value in it.
What changed?
Think the last round I counted five riders on a team in either the men’s or women’s.
Back in the EWS days there were loads of teams. Was in Finale around 2017/18 and the promenade was full of team tents.
Hopefully the national Enduro series in each country can pool their resources to make a European series, with their taxes acting as a feeder.
Any move away from the UCI is a good thing, imo.
As Clubby says, there was, I think, just 1 factory team in the men’s field this year. Now whether that’s WBD fault for effectively making it harder to watch over the last few seasons or just a case of the industry being in a tough spot since covid and the manufacturers have put all their budget into the more established disciplines?
It’s a real shame though as I have really enjoyed the coverage and the racing this year and felt like this season it had had a bit of a resurgence. Hopefully the UCI don’t just dump it and actually put some effort into handing over the reigns to establish a continental series that can be built up again to an independent international series in time.
Balls! And with that the highly improvable chance of me improving on my second to last place finish in the 2015 Tweedlove edition disappears. I shouldn’t have been there really, but I’ve been dining out on it for years
I think they massively increased the ffees for registering as a pro team – which is all that will be listed next to their name on the results sheet.
While there are definite advantages in XC and DH for having that proper pit set up etc, not sure its worth the expense in enduro where there is a single aid station.
Surely the mechanic just hangs out in a nearby cafe with a water bottle and a few spare tyres rather than spending thousands on the official tent/truck spot?
Technically you now do have a chance to improve on that as 2015 it would have been the EWS, so don’t give up hope just yet!
Guess this was coming.
Way more people race enduro than dh. Forget TV, it worked when EWS had festival style events that were open to the public, in great locations. a slideshow and some youtube seemed to suffice.
But there is no denying that most punters ride E bikes and DH is easier to televise. with manufacturers struggling, their focus is on what they see as marketable for the brand.
They dont race dh to sell dh bikes for instance.
Hope the riders get themselves sorted. I’d like to hope that some of these multi day epics can do a series.
I don’t really buy that argument given that virtually no one buys dh bikes these days.
Nobody buys F1 cars but manufacturers seem quiet happy spending millions on it.
DH sells bikes by a combination of the halo effect and being a rolling billboard. Easy to see who’s won, lots of internet coverage, proper finishing arena for photo’s.
Enduro, you’ve a load of stages spread over a wide area and very difficult to concisely tell the story of the day. In DH if someone crashes, you can generally see it and the effects on the result. In Enduro, there’s no way to cover the entire course. They tried to spice it up with reordering the final stage to try and build a climax but not sure it ever went down that well.
How about a series of nations creating an International class at their National Champs, result a World series piggy backed off events already happening?
Such a shame – have really enjoyed the coverage this season with Eliot Heap and the extended highlights.
Hopefully someone will look to do an original EWS type series, similar to IXS DH etc.
Who did the original broadcasting/highlights packages for EWS?
And wasn’t EWS Chris Balls baby to start with?
Looks like Crankworx are stepping up to save Enduro…..
Yeah. I’m looking forward to seeing what Crankworx are proposing. I’m assuming the riders already know and hopefully sponsors are onboard to fund them
Good news for riders hopefully given they pay more prize money than UCI events too.
Good news for enduro . I wonder if this is successful it could have an effect on downhill.
Between the crankworx DH series and the redbull stuff I wonder if it could ever get to a point where Santa Cruz tell Jackson Goldstone we want you doing crankworx and hardlines rather than world cups .
Looking at the riders comments on social media it looks like this was news to them too. But the overall sentiment seems to be positivity. Greg Callaghan a prime example, talking about how WBD really wasn’t good for the sport and this is now a rebirth opportunity.
Maybe there will be enough interest that the brands will get behind it and some of the top riders that recently stepped away will come back?