The stunning Swiss Alpine canton of Valais will play host to this year’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which kicks off this coming weekend. This year will be the 35th edition of the race, the first having taken place way back in 1990 over the trails of Durango, Colorado, where local legend Ned Overend took the men’s elite cross-country title, ahead of young Swiss ace Thomas Frischknecht, with Britain’s Tim Gould third.
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The sport sure has moved on since then, and the 2025 arena for the title bouts is somewhat fitting. That’s because Switzerland has long since been very much at the heart of European mountain bike racing in terms of its top racers, its classic races, and its supreme natural and hand-crafted mountain bike trails.
The grand XCO finale of the two weeks of racing will take place on the slopes of the Crans Montana ski resort, a venue that also hosted the “unofficial” European MTB World Championships back in 1998, where another Colorado-based rider, Mike Kloser, stole glory ahead of Overend and Gould in the men’s race.
This year’s racing is sure to kick up a whole lot of dust and excitement across the various disciplines, with British riders also being well and truly in the mix for the titles; here’s what you need to know about the headline Downhill and XC races.
The venues and schedule highlights
This year, the UCI has taken an unusual approach to the organisation and staging of the Mountain Bike World Championships, one that will bring together most of the major MTB disciplines over 15 days from 30th August till 14th September, a week longer than the championships normally are.
The racing will take place in numerous venues dotted around the classically stunning Swiss Valais region, which is also the backyard of the UCI, and sees several iconic mountain biking destinations and race courses playing host to the racing.
With the XCO/XCC World Cup also taking place in nearby Les Gets over the opening weekend of the Championships (this weekend), and the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide a week after the final Championship races, this chocolate-coated slice of mountain biking paradise will be the epicentre for the sport for a solid month.
The racing gets underway at the Aletsch Arena/Bellwald on the opening weekend of 30th-1st, with the Enduro and E-MTB Enduro races, which are followed at the same venue with the E-MTB Cross Country races on the 4th-5th September.
Slightly overlapping the above will be the Pump Track racing in Monthey. Meanwhile, on the 6th, there’s a real treat in store in the form of the Marathon races, which will take place on the legendary, and ultra-tough, high mountain Grand Raid course between Verbier and Grimentz.
Although marathon racing often plays second or third fiddle, this year’s point-to-point route takes the sport right back to its origins, with the Grand Raid being one of the oldest and biggest marathon races in the World. Though, unfortunately, with it being point-to-point, it’s a one, maybe two-shot race for spectators to witness..
Also on the weekend of the 6th-7th will be the Downhill racing, which takes place on the steep and technical course at Champery on the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil, which is ranked by many as one of the gnarliest beasts to tame.
The XCC racing will take place in Zermatt on the 8th-9th, beneath the imposing peak of the Matterhorn. The grand finale will be played out in the form of the XCO races, which run from the 10th to the 14th in Crans Montana, with the course being pretty technical and climbing tough, with features that have caught out a few big names in the past.
How to watch
Most of the trackside racing is free to watch, though the XCO and Downhill finals are ticketed.
In the UK and elsewhere, racing is broadcast live via the TNT Sports channel (if you have a subscription), with highlights posted on its YouTube channel shortly after. Although advance notice is rare, the UCI usually broadcasts most championship races live on its YouTube channel too (under obligation).
XCO and XCC contenders
This year has been something of a sketchy one in terms of the form books, with a number of the big names coming out for the first few rounds of the World Cup with all guns blazing and then falling right down the rankings. Meanwhile, the top slots have also been infiltrated by a core selection of outsiders, a few old hands, and more so by rising stars – making for something of a changing of the guard at the head of affairs.
In both the men’s and women’s fields some of the biggest hitters have turned their attention to road racing this year, with Britian’s Tom Pidcock and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot supposedly leaving fat tyres behind after their 2024 Olympic victories, although Pidcock did make a “not so surprising” return to win the Andorra round of the XCO World Cup in July.
After recently winning the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, we think it’s highly unlikely that PFP will turn out to race this year, and Tom Pidcock is currently riding the Vuelta a Espana, and unless something goes wrong early on in that he will not be on the start line here either – which opens things up a little more in both fields.
Defending men’s champ Alan Hatherly has also turned to road racing this year and has yet to show his best fat tyre form so far this season. That said, there has been a lengthy gap between major MTB races of late, and we’re sure many of the early-season stars and those returning from the road will have plenty of time to flip the odds back in their favour.
In the men’s race, many eyes will be on Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, who after a lengthy and fruitful road race focus made a fleeting return to MTB a short while back. Following Tour de France stage glory he has also been out with pneumonia though, but he’s back up and winning big on the road as I write.
MVDP has set his 2025 sights on glory here, where he hopes to become the first male rider to win World titles in all major cycling disciplines (road, gravel, cyclocross, and mtb) Only the elusive XCO title has eluded him thus far, and he will certainly be a prime contender if he can negate technical issues, which seem to arise when he really pushes hmself in mountain biking.
For both the XCO and XCC women’s races, in addition to those contenders mentioned, we anticipate seeing a mix of old and new names topping the podium, with old hand Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, surprise star of the season Sarah Maxwell of New Zealand, and the Swiss duo of Nicole Koller and Allesandra Keller leading the challenge.
If things come together, then Britain’s Evie Richards can show a clean pair of heels to anyone, especially in the XCC short track, where she will be out to defend her title. And never write off South Africa’s Candice Lill for a medal either.
The Elite Men should also throw up a real mix of old, new and road-returning racers; in addition to the afore mentioned we would expect to see a return to the top for Chris Blevins (USA – especially in the XCC) and fast Frenchie Victor Koretzky, while Britain’s Charlie Aldridge could also be a solid XCO medal prospect, and a prime favourite for the XCC race title.
However, we don’t imagine the strong Swiss contingent to take a back seat here – could it be a fairytale last shot for the retiring Nino Schurter? I’m sure we’d all love to see that, although a win is a long shot.
Could the rising new Swiss star Fabio Puntener finally get his top slot on the podium? Either way, late summer mountain weather and lady luck will play a part in all of the races – including the downhill…
Downhill contenders
The steep and technical slope of Champery is sure to produce a corker of a race, and one that could see many hopefuls coming to grief when pushing it past the limit to make up those fractions of seconds that could decide the title outcome.
This year’s Elite Women’s World Cup has seen the young Canadian racer Gracey Hemstreet topping the charts, and as long as she gets things 100% right on the day, then she will be a prime medal and likely title contender.
However, there are a bunch of top experienced riders who will have a huge say in this, all with more years of experience in handling World Championship pressures. Britain’s Tahnee Seagrave has made a fantastic return to form in the past two years, and will be one to beat here, as will the long-since dominant Vali Holl of Austria, Camille Balanche (Sui), the French duo of Marine Cabirou and Myriam Nicole, and Nina Hoffman (GER), amongst others.
When it comes to the Elite Men’s race, the obvious question is who can beat Jackson Goldstone? Returning after a long period of injury, the young Canadian racer has more than lived up to his promise and has dominated the World Cup this year. And as long as he has a clean run, this course should suit his abilities well.
The charge to beat Goldstone will surely be French-led, with old hands and longtime dominant Loic Bruni, Loris Vergier and Thibaut Daprela the most likely lads to beat him. Also in with a medal shot will be Australian Troy Brosnan. Britain also has a number of long-shot medal options, especially if the conditions become wet and slippery, with Jordan Williams having a particularly solid season so far.
Be sure to tune in to the live finals for this one. It’ll be edge-of-your-seat racing, especially where the Brits are involved.
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