Members Only
The 2026 season saw fresh overall title holders, a new generation come to the fore, and questions over the direction the sport is heading.
Whoop UCI MTB World Series, Piper Albrecht, Michele Mondini
A nine-round Mountain Bike World Series season welcomed us in 2026, just one fewer than in 2025, partly as a result of the absence of Araxá, Brazil and its season-opening doubleheader. Between Mona Yongpyong, South Korea, in April and the early October finish at Lake Placid, New York, the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike XC World Series provided some of the most intense and close-fought battles of the current era. But while 2026 was shaping up to deliver season-long battles that would go down to the wire for both the men and women. Instead, only one came down to the final race.
Last year I wrapped up my 2025 season review suggesting that 2025 and 2026 marked a changing of the guard, as veterans like Nino Schurter bowed out of the sport, just as the likes of Luca Martin, Charlie Aldridge, Adrien Boichis, and Martín Vidaurre were rising to prominence. But while a new generation has indeed begun to take control of the men’s field, the established names of women’s XC are continuing to lead from the front.
UCI XC World Cup 2025 season review: A change of the guard?
From Nino Schurter’s farewell to Samara Maxwell’s rise, 2025 was the year mountain bike racing’s power centers changed hands.
Jenny Rissveds added her first XCO overall title to last year’s World Championship, while Cannondale’s Luca Martin claimed both men’s overall titles through a season built on consistency rather than domination.
Let’s take a look at the season that was, and what it all means.
This post is for paying subscribers only
Subscribe now
Already have an account? Sign in
Did we do a good job with this story?
Yep
Nope