For the final week of the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships taking place in Valais, Switzerland, the focus is firmly on cross-country.
All four titles for cross-country short track (XCC) will be decided on 9 September in Zermatt, in the shadow of the mighty Matterhorn, before the action switches to Crans-Montana for the cross-country mixed team relay (XCR) on Thursday 11 September then cross-country Olympic (XCO) the following three days.
According to the entry lists, we look at the favourites for each of the 11 upcoming events.
XCC: quick-fire races to set the tone
Cross-country short track has been raced at the UCI World Championships since 2021 when Christopher Blevins (USA) and Evie Richards (GBR) became the first UCI World Champions for the speciality. Titles of UCI World Champion were introduced for the Under 23 categories in 2024, with Riley Amos (USA) and Isabella Holmgren (CAN) claiming the inaugural rainbow jersey in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.
The 1km course in Zermatt has around 70m elevation gain per lap, with two climbs and a rock garden included in the course that rewards speed. Check out the track with Canada’s Ella MacPhee.
MacPhee is among the Under 23 women to watch, along with the category’s UCI XCC World Cup leader Katharina Sadnik (AUT) and home Swiss rider Elina Benoit. In the Men Under 23 racing, there’s a strong Swiss hope in Finn Treudler, who dominates his peers in this year’s UCI XCC World Cup.
Among the Women Elite favourites, the Swiss riders Alessandra Keller (2024 and 2022 UCI World Cup overall winner) and Nicole Koller face 2024 and 2021 XCC UCI World Champion Evie Richards, 2023 UCI World Cup overall winner Puck Pieterse (NED) and the winner of the last round of the UCI XCC World Cup, Jenny Rissveds (SWE).
In the Men Elite, 2024 UCI World Champion Victor Koretzky (FRA) will turn himself inside out to retain the rainbow bands, but can he cope with Blevins? France’s Luca Martin and Great Britain’s Charlie Aldridge would write a different script, as would home riders Fabio Püntener, Filippo Colombo and Dario Lillo.
XCR: a test of each nations’ depth of talent
Thursday’s team relay will see six riders from each nation – mixing women and men from Elite, Under 23 and Junior categories – complete one lap each, in any order.
2024 UCI World Champions USA – who beat France by 3 seconds, with Italy third – will look to retain their title, but the home nation is sure to throw a strong squad at the event.
XCO: six titles at stake
UCI World Champions for XCO will be crowned in six categories: Women and Men Juniors on Friday, Men Under 23 Men and Women Elite on Saturday, then Women Under 23 and Men Elite on Sunday. Each will be raced over a technically demanding 3.5km course, with a 190m elevation gain. Take a trip round the XCO course with 2017 UCI World Champion Jolanda Neff (SUI).
Swiss rider Finn Treudler is Men Under 23 favourite, with the XCC/ XCO double a distinct possibility. Italy’s Valentina Corvi has been strong all season in the Women Under 23 ranks, winning three rounds of the 2025 UCI XCO World Cup, including the last round by almost a minute.
New Zealand’s Samara Maxwell has starred since stepping up to the Women Elite category. The 2023 Under 23 UCI World Champion has two UCI World Cup victories so far this year – as do Rissveds and Pieterse. All three have the potential to take the top step. But there is no ruling out the Alessandra Keller and Jolanda Neff on their home soil.
In the Men Elite XCO, Nino Schurter will be one of the crowd favourites. It will be one of the last appearances of the ten-time Elite UCI World Champion, who announced he would bow out of competition after two major events in Switzerland: the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships followed a week later by a round of the UCI World Cup in Lenzerheide.
With or without Schurter threatening the podium, this year’s Men Elite race is unmissable. 2025 UCI World Cup leader Blevins has big shoulders to hold back the weight of expectation, and it’s Chile’s Martín Vidaurre who has pushed him hardest all year. Luca Martin, with his first UCI World Cup win in Les Gets, France, at the end of August is difficult to ignore, as are Victor Koretzky and Italy’s Luca Braidot – not to mention 2024 UCI World Champion Alan Hatherly (RSA).
Home rider Mathias Flückiger has won two silver medals and one bronze medal at previous UCI Mountain Bike World Championships; could he complete the set? And might Lars Forster pull off a podium performance spurred on by the home crowds?
One more multi-talented man has thrown his hat back in the XCO ring: Mathieu Van der Poel. The 30-year-old Dutchman has honours throughout the years and across the disciplines, yet fortune has never been on his side at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, despite a bronze medal in 2018 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. This could be the year that changes.