News

Kasper Woolley has parted ways with Yeti Cycles’ after three seasons aboard the turquoise marque. The Squamish local is one of the enduro world’s biggest young talents and his move away from Yeti OneUp Components, the satellite squad to Yeti/FOX Factory Team, marks the end of an injury blighted time with the team. Woolley pulled off no fewer than five top 10’s in 2021 before an extremely disappointing 2022. At EWS Tweed Valley he injured his T6 Vertebrae fracture, a fractured scapula and a concussion. After rehabilitating from that, he then suffered another horror crash closer to home in Whistler where he collided with another rider on a pump track which resulted in a broken and dislocated jaw and a type 3 occipital condyle fracture to the top of his spine. Kasper Woolley has yet to confirm who he’ll be riding for in 2023 when the enduro season kicks off in Tasmania.

French star Victor Koretzky and Chilean prodigy Martín Vidaurre have both put pen to paper for Specialized Racing ahead of the 2023 season.  Koretzky has been open that his deal came together late in the day having already signed with Bora Hansgrohe on the road but, with the overlap of Specialized machinery between the two squads, it was one that made perfect sense. The 28 year-old may well be an early season threat too as he’ll be ‘fresh’ from an intensive set of road training camps and one-day races.  I aim to be in good form early in the season and perform well at these road races before turning my attention to the MTB. The world championships in Scotland will be significant to qualify for the 2024 games, and I will give everything to achieve this goal. Viktor Koretzky In Chilean Martín Vidaurre the Morgan Hill concern has snapped up one of the emerging stars of Cross-country racing. The 22 year-old has blazed a trail through the U23 ranks and is the reigning UCI World Cup overall title holder having taken seven wins in 2022. The 2023 season will be his first in Elite and is one of the most hotly anticipated debuts in recent memory. I am happy and very excited to join the Specialized Factory Racing Team. So many factors influenced my decision, but Specialized is a racing company, one of the best out there, and I am sure I made the best decision for me. The bikes have a good history, and the team knows how to win. On the other side is Specialized's big community in Sudamerica. For sure is not going to be easy; there is a lot to learn, but I will keep my style and try something crazy. I have no significant pressure, so it's time to take opportunities and get more experience. My goal will be consistent the whole season. Martin Vidaurre Specialized Racing now stands as one of the most heavily star studded rosters in the Cross-country pits with their latest signings joining Haley Batten, Laura Stigger, Sina Frei and Christopher Blevins.

The 2023 season kicks off in Australia next March - and you could be on the start line.  Amateur racing is back next year, giving anyone the chance to line up on an EWS start line -  with no qualification requirements - and ride the same trails as the fastest riders in the world.  Taking place the day before the pro EWS race, the amateur race gives competitors the chance to take on some of the most epic trails in the world, before cheering on the pros when they hit them the very next day. The new season will open in style next March when it kicks off with a Tasmania double header. This mountain bike paradise has been steadily growing in stature thanks to an ever growing purpose built trail network - with the two most famous destinations, Maydena and Derby, playing host to rounds one and two of the 2023 EWS respectively.  Maydena will make its EWS debut as the very first race of the year on March 25-26. Maydena Bike Park, located in the Derwent Valley, only opened in 2018 but is already a well established race venue, having hosted the Australian National Downhill Champs in both 2021 and 2022 as well as the National Enduro Champs. Boasting over 70 individual trails that encompass 80km in total, riders are in for a treat as they tackle over the park’s 800+ of elevation amongst pristine rainforest.    Tasmania first broke onto the enduro scene in 2017, when the EWS visited the former tin mining town of Derby. This tiny town blew the riding community away with its incredible tracks, huge crowds and even went on to win the Specialized Trail of the Year Award. So it’s fitting that the series will once again return to Derby for round 2 on April 1-2.  Derby kick started Tasmania’s reinvention as a mountain biking mecca with the Blue Derby trails, which now include over 125km of purpose built single track and is widely regarded as one of the best riding destinations in Australia.  And whilst these two destinations offer a very different riding experience, they have one thing in common - both are busy building new trails for the EWS races next season.  If you want to be on the start line at either (or both) of these races next year, then mark the week beginning Jan 30th 2023 in your diary. Entries for rounds one and two will go live then, with more details being released very soon. 

Seasoned Cross-country pro, Maxime Marotte, has signed with the all-new Rockrider Racing Team. The Frenchman, who came fourth at the Rio Olympics, left Santa Cruz FSA after two seasons to set up shop with a new brand to the XC ranks. The brand is synonymous with entry-level MTB and E-MTB’s but looks determined to prove its mettle on the world stage. Frenchman Marotte will pilot their 29 inch Mountain Bike Full Suspension XC 100 machine.  I am happy to wear the colours of the Rockrider Racing Team, a French team. I am back with the people I have known for a long time and we have great things to do together. I want to share my experience with the younger riders, the role of road captain suits me well. After finishing second in a World Cup, I still want to perform at the highest level. Maxime Marotte Alongside Marotte, Rockrider Racing Team have signed Emeline Detilleux, Joshua Dubau, Mathis Azzaro and Olivia Onesti to form a team bristling with young talent. All eyes will be on how much they can learn from Marotte and which one will conjure up the first breakout performance on the big stage.

Mountain biking is a tough sport consisting of many tough race formats, but none are tougher than marathon. The point-to-point race tests a racers abilities to climb, descend and race in a bunch over a huge distance.  As with Cross-country Short Track (XCC) and Cross-country Olympic (XCO), being able to read the race around you is paramount whilst effort management and energy conservation are to the fore. The result is wheel-to-wheel racing across stunning vistas which separates the tough from the very toughest mountain bikers on earth. The discipline has been recognised at UCI World Championship level since 2003.   Here’s all that you need to know: What is Cross-country Marathon and how big are the courses? Marathon races are maybe best thought of as mountain bike racing’s equivalent of the blockbuster box set - they unfold over time with a litany of twists, turns and dramas along the way.  XCM is a mass start format and sees as many as 150 pro racers take to the start line at once. Whoever reaches the finish first, wins. For the first time in the sports history, it will now have its own full-strength UCI World Cup status with overall title winners being crowned at the end of the season.  In the past, that distance of XCM races was typically between 60-160km in length but could vary from race to race. From 2023 on, that distance will be locked at 100km to try and promote closer racing and parity of course design across the series. There are tech/feed zones available to racers on XCM courses but they are far fewer and further between than on an XCO course so some added precautions are taken.  XCM represents many of the same tactical challenges as its cousin XCO. Racers have to pace themselves as part of a group and work out where their competitors strengths and weaknesses lie and how best to exploit them. Riders can seek additional nutrition, liquids or mechanical support from the Technical and Feed Zones dotted around the course. Given the size of the courses though, they are much wider spaced than at XCO races. Depending on course design and access, they are generally 20km apart so the implications of mechanicals such as punctures really hangs on where you pick them up.  The courses are much more than ‘just’ big distance monsters too; there are steep climbs and technical descents to conquer along the way with the aim being to throw everything that’s great and terrifying about each venue at the pack to see who comes out on top.  What are the bikes like?  XCM race bikes are very similar to XCO race bikes with the same blend of efficiency, lightweight and confident descending all being necessary requirements.  Full suspension rules the XCM roost with 100-120mm of suspension travel and 29in wheels being the standard. Dropper seatposts afford more room to attack fast descents by dropping the saddle into the frame with some extra bottle mounts often being deployed to help keep their pilots fully-hydrated. The only other additions to the usual cross country race bike spec are usually additional puncture protection in the form of tyre inserts to help minimise the risk of deflating miles from help.  Racers to watch  The marathon discipline is frequently dabbled in by the big names of XCO and so, historically, the results sheets have been a mixture of household names and slightly less well-known long distance specialists. The reigning UCI World Champion’s from 2022 are Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Sam Gaze. The former is one of the best known names in international cycling and the latter is one of the biggest talents in elite men’s XCC/XCO who was the first racer to dethrone Nino Schurter from his undefeated 2017 campaign. With XCM becoming a full-time UCI MTB World Cup it’ll be fascinating to see which of the established pro’s take the opportunity to make the discipline their own alongside the underdogs who will set to become stars.   Where can I watch it?!  With the firepower of one of the world’s biggest sports broadcasters behind the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, there will be more live coverage and more ways to follow racing than ever before. UCI World Cup Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill events from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be available live and on-demand on discovery+, the Eurosport App and globally on GCN+. UCI World Cup Cross-country Marathon, Enduro and E-Enduro will benefit from in-depth Highlights Shows at every round. More ways to watch will be announced in the coming months. 

Cross-country Olympic (XCO) mountain bike racing has roots as deep as the early days of knobbly tyres clawing into the California hills back in the 1970s, it was first recognised by the UCI as a format in 1988 predating Downhill by five years.  Amidst the extreme sports boom of the mid to late 1990s, Cross-country largely got lost in the wake of the high speeds and baggy pants of its gravity-fed stablemate but the past decade has seen its popularity surge with fans across the world.  It remains the only mountain bike format to feature at the Olympic Games and as such it boasts some serious clout on the international stage. Its status as a fan favourite also derives from its deeply-stacked talent pools and unpredictability with some of the sport's biggest stars banging bars with emerging talents and multi-discipline powerhouses alike. Here’s all that you need to know: The format  Cross-country is a mass start race with over 100 racers taking to the same startline at the same time. The courses are designed to test their physical fitness and bike handling skills in equal measure consisting of both steep uphill and downhill sections across a four to 10km lap. Although each course may consist of very different terrain and a varying number of laps, there are some rules which help to keep them reasonably consistent (no more than 15% of the total lap can be on Tarmac etc).  Whoever crosses the line first, wins - it’s that simple.  Well, it’s not quite that simple…  winning a UCI Cross-country World Cup race is one of the toughest propositions in modern cycling. Not only do you have to conquer repeated cliff-like ascents and torturously technical descents but you have to do it all with your heart rate approaching the redline surrounded by other like-minded racers determined to get to the finish before you.  Cross-country races are often like mini road classics - a boxing match at the front of a group to determine who has the legs to go to the last lap in with a sniff of the win. Attrition melds with bike skills and psychological warfare to produce fireworks!  The bikes As speeds and technicality have increased over the years, race bikes have had to evolve to look more like mini enduro sleds than the weight conscious bikes of old. Full suspension bikes of 100-120mm of travel rule the roost, geometry is much more aggressive to allow for maximum attack on descents and dropper seat posts are now de rigueur when once they were viewed with scepticism. Many racers run handlebar-mounted levers which allow them to toggle between suspension damping modes as many as 40 times per lap.  Everything is, of course, relative and the bikes remain extremely light in weight with as many parts being hewn from carbon fibre as possible. Cross-country race bikes run extremely lightly shod tyres for minimum rolling resistance - punctures can be a big factor but are not the race enders that they can be in virtually every other mountain bike format. There is a feed/tech zone on each lap where a racer can take on fuel, water and technical support every lap.  The tactics Just as in Cross-country Short Track (XCC), often the safest place to be is right at the sharp end and clear of any congestion-based carnage. This is particularly true on the opening laps as the herd attempts to establish some kind of natural rhythm. Unlike in XCC, courses can bottleneck suddenly and offer up much more in terms of technical challenges meaning that it’s important to assert yourself right from the start.  Reading the opposition around you (again, whilst your heart rate soars) is essential too with the experienced hands knowing that races are only won on the last lap and seldom before. Teammates can and often do help themselves out but XCO remains at its core a discipline for individuals.  Switzerland is the powerhouse nation in terms of XCO racing so a good tactical rule of thumb if you want to do well is to finish ahead of all the Swiss racers. Easy! The riders to watch The popularity of XCO in the last 10 years really began with the growth of the talent pool in the elite women’s field. For years the elite men’s landscape was dominated by the twin towers of Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter but the women’s field began to percolate with a raft of young talents intent on taking on the established old guard and breaking new ground.  The headline acts were undoubtedly the 2022 UCI World Champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and the reigning Olympic Champion, Jolanda Neff. The former is perhaps the most-talented multi-disciplinary cyclist the world has yet seen whilst the latter rewrote the rules on how important bike handling should be in XCO racing. When both are fully fit, there are few who can touch them. Aside from Alessandra Keller. And Kate Courtney. And Jenny Rissveds. And Linda Indergrand. And… In the elite men’s field, Nino Schurter still roams the plains as the biggest beast of all. With ten UCI World Championships and eight UCI World Cup overall titles to his name alongside a full suite of Olympic medals in his jersey pocket he is a household name in his native Switzerland. To win a UCI MTB World Series XCO race, you are going to have to come up with an answer to a Nino-shaped problem… But, believe it or not, he is beatable! The days of Schurter’s vice-like grip over the series are on the wane and the likes of France’s Titouan Carod and Italy’s Luca Braidot continue to emerge as would-be overall title winners. As ever, the Swiss talent pool continues to poureth over… Fillipo Colombo, Thomas Litcher and Vital Albin are champing at the bit for their turn in the spotlight.  Where can I watch it?!  With the firepower of one of the world’s biggest sports broadcasters behind the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, there will be more live coverage and more ways to follow racing than ever before. UCI World Cup Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill events from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be available live and on-demand on discovery+, the Eurosport App and globally on GCN+. UCI World Cup Cross-country Marathon, Enduro and E-Enduro will benefit from in-depth Highlights Shows at every round. More ways to watch will be announced in the coming months. 

In the world of mountain bike racing the format of Cross-country Short Track (XCC) is both the youngest and one of the most dramatic for racers and fans alike. Introduced back in 2018, the format hasn’t been around for long but in that time it has made waves and shot from being a warm up act to a fan favourite in its own right.  It is traditionally raced on a Friday evening and acts as the starting pistol to the first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event at a UCI MTB World Series race weekend.  Short Track offers all the tactical intrigue and bar-to-bar battling of its big brother, Cross-country Olympic (XCO), but fought out over a much shorter race course and a reduced number of laps. The result? Ultra condensed, flat-out cross country racing, often with explosive results.  Here’s everything that you need to know: What is XCC and what are the courses like?  XCC, just like XCO, is a mass start race which sees the full complement of the world’s best cross country racers take to the start line. By shortening both the course and the race distance the result is a high intensity cross country race.   The courses are made from elements of the full-length XCO tracks but slashed in length to between 1-2 km. Typically, they’re wider and feature less of the daunting technical sections (such as steep rock gardens) in order to keep speeds and overtaking options high for maximum action.   The number of laps raced are determined by how many circuits can be fitted into 25 minutes. Up for grabs are the all-important grid positions for Sunday’s XCO race and points for the UCI XCC World Cup overall title.  How do you win an XCC race? Winning is simple - you just have to be the first to cross the line! It’s no more complicated than that. But of course, nothing is ever ‘simple’ when it comes to racing.  Cross country racers compete twice in a weekend which requires careful metering of energies expended.  The format has repeatedly proven that attack is often the best form of defence. Even if a racer doesn’t see themselves as going for the XCC win, the safest place to be is at the front, especially at the start. Collisions are commonplace and with average speeds being much higher than in XCO, off-bike excursions are perilously high risk.  For those with their eyes on the prize, winning is a delicate balancing act between metering your efforts, positioning and constantly analysing the racers around you at all times. Races often come down to nail-biting sprints for the line.  What makes this event so special? The UCI MTB World Series, which hosts the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, is the premier mountain bike race event on earth and is where the very fastest come to do battle across the globe, every year. Win a UCI MTB World Cup race and your name is written into the history books, win enough of them to take the overall title come the end of the season and you can count yourself amongst the greats.  The results of XCC races count towards the grid positions for the longer distance XCO races but they also offer up points for their own UCI World Cup category with titles waiting to be claimed at the end of the year.  What are the bikes like? Racers must compete on Sunday’s Cross-country Olympic race aboard the same bike that they competed in the short track race on at the start of the weekend. Hardtails (bikes with no rear suspension) are increasingly rare these days with full suspension ruling the roost. As with everything cross country, lightweight reigns supreme with as many components as possible being constructed from carbon fibre. Cross-country tyres are also extremely light and feature low profile tread designs to reduce rolling resistance. The racer's position on the bike is finely tuned for maximum efficiency over comfort.   Dropper seatposts, which allow the saddle to be dropped into the frame for more room to manoeuvre on technical descents, were once viewed as an indulgence in cross country racing but have now been accepted for the benefits that they offer.     Who are the riders that I should be looking out for? It’s hard to mention ‘riders to watch’ in regards to anything cross country racing-related without automatically saying, ‘Pauline Ferrand-Prevot’. The newly-signed Ineos Grenadier is one of the most complete bike racers the world has yet seen. Cross-country Short Track is habitually fought shoulder-to-shoulder right down to the wire but at the 2022 UCI World Championships, racing at home in front of a partisan French crowd, Ferrand-Prevot blew them all away! She took the lead early on and stormed to a winning margin of +18secs literally never looking back as she went. That said, six different women won a short track race in 2022. The only repeat winner (prior to Pauline Ferrand-Prevot’s Worlds win) was Switzerland’s Olympic Champion, Jolanda Neff. Neff’s compatriot, Alessandra Keller, took the UCI XCC World Cup overall title last time out and will be hopeful of defending it in 2023.  In the men’s field there’s an unprecedented spread of racers who could take the points. Germany’s Luca Schwarzbauer has carved out a niche as a powerful short track specialist in the face of the Swiss dominance - the alpine nation having hoovered up wins in 50% of 2022’s top flight XCC races. Switzerland has been the dominant nation in cross country racing for a generation now and look in no hurry to relinquish that crown.  South Africa’s Alan Hatherly won the UCI World Cup overall title last season having taken victory at the opening round and then backed it up with a slew of top fives across the rest of the year. Even in a sport as combative as XCC, there’s no replacement for consistency!   Where can I watch it?!  With the firepower of one of the world’s biggest sports broadcasters behind the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, there will be more live coverage and more ways to follow racing than ever before. UCI World Cup Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill events from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be available live and on-demand on discovery+, the Eurosport App and globally on GCN+. UCI World Cup Cross-country Marathon, Enduro and E-Enduro will benefit from in-depth Highlights Shows at every round. More ways to watch will be announced in the coming months. 

The reigning UCI XCO and XCC World Champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, 30, has signed a two-year contract with one of the planet’s biggest race teams, Ineos Grenadiers. The Frenchwoman rounded out her 2022 campaign having cemented her place as one of the most complete cyclists in history with UCI World Championship titles in XCC, XCO, XCM and Gravel.   Signing with the INEOS Grenadiers is a dream for me. I’m super excited to be joining the off road team and becoming part of a wider group of riders and the INEOS family of athletes. The INEOS Grenadiers’ professionalism is world-renowned and I have always admired the team’s ethos and spirit. To have the 2024 Olympics in Paris is huge for me. I want to be the best rider I can be in front of a home crowd and that will be my main goal over the next two years. An Olympic gold medal is the only one missing from my palmares so it’s the one I want the most. It was a key reason to join this adventure with the INEOS Grenadiers. I still have a lot of things to learn and it is the best team to help me reach my goal. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot The move sees the Reims native leave Absolute Absalon having signed a 2-year deal with the French squad headed by Julien Absaon back in January 2021. The 2022 season saw her roar back to form after a couple of seasons blighted by iliac endofibrosis which left her struggling for power in the lower part of her left leg.  She will join Britain’s Tom Pidcock, another multi-disciplinary superstar, on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup circuit for 2023.  Signing a world-class rider like Pauline is a huge boost as we grow the number of multi-disciplinary athletes racing as Grenadiers. Pauline is a unique talent. Her palmares speaks for itself, especially after just winning four world titles in the space of two months. But what sets her apart and makes her a great addition to the Grenadiers is her drive and grit. She loves the sport and is a natural born racer and that comes through in the way she rides. Pauline is on her own journey to try and win gold at her home Olympics and this is an area where we thrive and have proven success. We are excited to support that ambition and help her achieve her goals over the coming years. Rod Ellingworth, Deputy Team Principal Ineos Grenadiers You can watch Pauline and the rest of the stars of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup take on the opening race of the 2023 season at Nové Město na Moravě, 11-14 May. 

At its core, mountain biking has long been about compromise. Balancing bike technology with rider skill and physical fitness to produce the best possible race results. But not Downhill (DHI). DHI has long been about one thing and one thing only - speed!  Here’s all that you need to know about Downhill: What makes this event so special? The UCI MTB World Series, which hosts the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, is the premier mountain bike race event on earth and is where the very fastest come to do battle across the globe, every year. Win a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race and your name is written into the history books. Win enough of them to take the overall title come the end of the season and you can count yourself amongst the greats.  What is Downhill and what do the courses look like? First recognised by the UCI in 1993, Downhill has held at its heart a simple format; fastest from top to bottom wins. Its simplicity has been the key to its success and bolstered by the extreme sports boom of the mid to late 1990s, the fastest form of mountain bike racing has had fans the world over leaping from their sofas ever since.  Colossal speeds, huge jumps and massive technical features are strewn down tracks carpeted with millions of rocks and roots hoping to unseat any rider who takes them on. If you want action, drama and suspense there is only one place to look.  As mentioned, top-to-bottom in the fastest time possible is about as convoluted as Downhill gets. Racers will walk a track and ‘enjoy’ several practice sessions before racing gets underway to forensically map the course in their heads.  Line choice is often king in Downhill. The top flight are so tightly matched in terms of raw speed and ability that bravery simply isn’t a big enough differentiator. Spotting a slightly wider corner entry that allows you to hit the apex smoother and exit cleaner will equal valuable tenths of a second which could be the difference between a win and being off of the podium.  Also, racers will have to deal with track evolution across the course of the week. Holes form, ruts rise and collapse and tree-lined sections can harbour moisture. And that’s before you factor mountain weather into the equation. Downhill is much more than just a ‘stay off the brakes’ freefall to glory - to win a UCI MTB World Cup you need to be cool, calculated and fully in control of your surroundings. Whilst all the time staying off the brakes! How do you win a Downhill race? Downhill is enjoying a new golden age. After the extreme sports boom fizzled, it, like many action sports, hit a slump but since then has grown from being cycling’s unruly black sheep to a high tech and methodical professional sport. Just like ski racing or F1, the premise may be simple but when you drill down into the details the practice is anything but.  To win a UCI Downhill World Cup race requires the perfect run. Such is the level at the top of the sport now that it’s no longer enough to cleave time from a single section, you have to be faster almost everywhere. That race run will only be thrown at the proverbial wall come race day, it’s too much to risk throughout the course of the week. The preparation is about training the mind, bracing the body and sorting the bike for it. Seemingly any rider at the sharp end can win at the minute and the fact that no-one can predict who it will be until the front wheel has broken the beam is a massive part of the format's allure.  What are the bikes like? Downhill race bikes are amongst the most focused on the planet. Such is their intent on descending cliff faces at warp speed that to ride one around a car park takes real effort. Their geometry is long and low - plenty of space between the axles to allow their pilot to maximise weight transfer and to stay stable at high speeds.  They roll on super-sticky tyres, run at extremely low pressures to eke out as much grip from staircase-like root sections and offer the most suspension of the MTB world at 200mm+ of whalloping wheel travel.  These gravity race sleds also feature dinner-plate sized disc brakes, barn door worrying handlebar widths and the very latest suspension technology. Many of the top teams run motorsport-derived telemetry equipment early on in the week to help them dial in to conditions whilst we’re also seeing a new dawn of computer controlled bouncy bits to help further maximise sector times.  Who are the riders to watch?  In the elite women’s field 2023 is perfectly poised to be a classic after a couple of years of an injury-ravaged startlist. It's looking promising that all the big guns will be back and firing once more. Of the aforementioned big hitters, France’s Myriam Nicole is the most senior and well-decorated. She has seven UCI World Championship medals (including two golds) to her name alongside the 2017 UCI World Cup overall title. Camile Balanche of Switzerland is the reigning UCI World Cup overall holder who pipped Nicole to the title in 2022. Austria’s young phenom Valentina Höll is the reigning UCI World Champ and will be hoping to back it up with an overall win.  Britain’s Tahnée Seagrave has had a tough time on the sidelines for a while but will be hoping to be back to her best in the new year.  In the elite men’s ranks we are living in a second age of French domination. The first was led by Nico Vouilloz and Fabien Barel throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Now, its resurgence is being fronted by Loïc Bruni and Amaury Pierron. Ice and fire - the former the metronomic, ice-in-the-veins professional and the latter the unpredictable, wild-eyed rockstar. Bruni took the UCI World Champs title last season, Pierron the UCI World Cup overall. Both would ideally leave 2023 with both titles - fireworks await.  The French locked out those Les Gets UCI World Champs with Loris Vergier also taking to the podium. Benoit Coulanges remains highly-regarded and long overdue a breakthrough win on the international stage. Outside of the fast Frenchmen, Laurie Greenland leads the once-dominant British charge whilst the GOAT, Greg Minnaar, continues racing top flight Downhill into his 40’s and remains no less capable of pulling off the big results.    Where can I watch it? With the firepower of one of the world’s biggest sports broadcasters behind the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, there will be more live coverage and more ways to follow racing than ever before. UCI World Cup Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill events from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be available live and on-demand on discovery+*, the Eurosport App and globally on GCN+. UCI World Cup Cross-country Marathon, Enduro and E-Enduro will benefit from in-depth Highlights Shows at every round. More ways to watch will be announced in the coming months. 

The 2022 season may only just have wrapped, but focus has already shifted to the opening rounds of next year in the inimitable Tasmania, Australia.  The new season will open with a Tasmanian doubleheader next March, when Maydena will make its Enduro debut as the very first race of the year. This will be followed up just one week later with round two on Derby’s iconic trails.  Josh Bryceland in Derby in 2017 Tasmania first broke onto the enduro scene in 2017, when the EWS visited the former tin mining town of Derby. This tiny town blew the riding community away with its incredible tracks, huge crowds and even went on to win the Specialized Trail of the Year Award.  With over 100km of trail, Maydena Bike Park is the perfect venue to kick start the 2023 race season Maydena Bike Park, located in the Derwent Valley, only opened in 2018 but is already a well established race venue, having hosted the Australian National Downhill Champs in both 2021 and 2022 as well as the National Enduro Champs. With stars of the sport like Connor Fearon, Troy Brosnan and Daniel Booker regular faces on the trails, Maydena is sure to open the new season in style.  Jesse Melamed putting on a show for the 2019 Derby crowds With Tasmania now firmly on the international mountain biking map, it seems only fitting that the season starts there in 2023 and the advent of a new era for the sport. With amateur racing on offer alongside the pro categories, there will be not one two opportunities to get between the tapes when entries open in January.  Maydena will kick off the 2023 race season on March 25 - 26, with round two taking place on March 31- April 1 in Derby. Race entries will go live in January 2023, more details will be released soon. 

Enduro was born back in 2013 and has grown from strength to strength under the Enduro World Series banner since then. For 2023, it will be elevated to the same billing as the other race formats in the UCI World Cup and be known as the UCI Enduro World Cup (EDR). Out of all the formats of mountain bike racing, Enduro perhaps best represents what the wider off-road riding population does at their local trails every weekend - ride up, ride down as fast as possible, repeat. And as such, it will always represent one of the most accessible entry points into mountain bike racing. Here is everything that you need to know: What are Enduro races like? There are multiple timed downhill stages and competitors must take them on, in order, having ridden their way to the top of each to create one big loop. At the start of the day they are given a start time for each stage. Any late check-ins at the top of stages equal time penalties.  Courses can be around 50km total distance and typically feature five stages (although this varies depending on the venue). Passionate local organisers design these to not only link together to provide the ultimate test but to also showcase the region's best trails. The winner is the racer with the fastest cumulative time on the stages. What is the toughest thing about winning an Enduro? When compared to the deep set psychology of Downhill or the elbow-to-elbow argy-bargy of cross country racing, Enduro features quite a high level of camaraderie between competitors. All the racers are out on a huge course at the same time but the bit where the winning and losing happens is taken on an individual basis.  Winning Enduro races is about consistency and seeing the big picture. Just as in golf, it’s all about the whole scorecard, not just about single victories. Of course you can win a stage, but if you finish outside the top twenty on the other four, your chances of winning the race are nil.  And just as that applies to single rounds, so too does it apply to the UCI World Cup overall title. A true test, to take the title a racer will have to master a year's worth of challenges across just about every terrain imaginable. What are the bikes like? Full suspension bikes of between 150-180mm of suspension travel rule the roost. Geometry-wise, enduro race bikes are the sweet spot between Cross-country distance-munching and Downhill descending. Big brakes and soft tyres rule the roost but, equally, competitors need to spend 50km+ and a maximum of 2250 vertical metres to contend with so efficiency is important too. More than any other format, enduro bikes are about balance and compromise.  There is an e-bike category (E-EDR) which includes timed uphill stages.  Many courses will feature a pass through the pits where the racers can take on technical assistance. Other than that, aside from themselves, the only people who can help with mechanicals are other racers. And everyone is on a tight schedule… Who are the riders to watch  In the world of pro women’s Enduro racing, France rule the roost. Isabeau Courdurier took her second Enduro World Series overall title in 2022 after suffering a horrific stick-through-foot injury racing her e-MTB in the middle of the season. Courdurier’s tenacity and grit is bettered only by her bike handling and ability to round out wins, stage after stage. Her biggest challenger was Morgane Charre who took her to a final race decider.  The pro men’s Enduro World Series landscape has become dominated by four main superpowers; overall title winner, Jesse Melamed from Canada, America’s two-time champ, Richie Rude, Australia’s Jack Moir and Belgium’s Martin Maes. Pretty much any of the top 15 pro’s can get on a roll and make a claim to a win but as 2022 progressed, it was these four who really turned the screw and established themselves as the riders to beat.