The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, start on Wednesday 26 of August and run to Sunday 30 of August. Seventeen rainbow jerseys will be contested across five mountain bike formats, beginning with E-Mountain Bike Cross-country (E-XC) on the first day.
Here, we run through the E-XC favourites and reveal the testing race routes that they will face.
Spielmann to defend
The Women Elite will battle for the first rainbow jersey of the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (starting 10am CET), and Austria’s Anna Spielmann will be the one to beat. The 27-year-old is the defending UCI World Champion after her dominant victory in Bellwald, Switzerland, last year, where she beat her closest rival Kathrin Stirnemann (SUI) by 35 seconds. Spielmann led from the start and tightened the screw with each passing lap.
The Austrian also won the overall classification of the UCI World Cup for this mountain bike format in 2024, and has multiple UCI World Cup round victories to her name. Her 2026 form looks strong.
Her greatest threat could come from countrywoman Tamara Wiedmann. The 25-year-old has a strong background in cross-country Olympic (XCO), finishing fourth at the Austrian National Championships last month.
Anna Oberparleiter will no doubt also make her presence felt, looking for a win on home soil. The 35-year-old Italian has eight national titles to her name: four in XCO and, more recently, four in E-XC. She just missed out on a fifth E-XC title in July, finishing second.
Other riders to keep an eye on include Brazil’s former national Cross-country Marathon Champion, Roberta Kelly Stopa and Poland’s Patrycja Jeziorska.
A fifth title for Gilloux?
The Men Elite begin their quest for the rainbow jersey at 11.30 CET. The entry list is stacked with 25 world-class riders. But the clear favourite is France's Jérôme Gilloux, the undisputed king of E-XC, with four UCI world titles to his name. The 32-year-old arrives on the back of two consecutive titles: a win in Val di Sole would complete a hat-trick, and take his career tally to five.
Gilloux’s has been at the top of the E-XC game since the first UCI World Championship titles were awarded for the format, in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, in 2019. On that occasion, he finished second behind South African Alan Hatherly, the reigning UCI XCO World Champion, who will himself be looking to win his third XCO rainbow jersey in Val di Sole. The 2020 World Championships for E-XC brought another second place for Gilloux, this time behind Great Britain's Tom Pidcock, who'll be among Hatherly's main rivals later in the week.
Gilloux is in form, having won the French E-XC National Championships in July, once again showcasing his immense climbing power, technical skill, race management and explosive late-race acceleration.
His main competition could come from Switzerland's Joris Ryf, who finished just seven seconds behind the Frenchman last year and who won the rainbow jersey in 2023. The 29-year-old is a multiple UCI World Cup round winner and has already won several events this year.
Also look out for Italians Daniele Braidot and Mirko Tabacchi, who'll be driven on by the passionate tifosi. Thirty-five-year-old Braidot is an experienced XCO racer with many UCI World Cup podiums on his palmarès. While his E-XC record is limited compared with dedicated specialists, his high-level cross-country fitness and technical skills make him a credible contender.
As for his 37-year-old compatriot Tabacchi, he won the UCI World Cup overall title for E-XC in 2025. He also finished just outside the podium, in fourth, at the 2025 UCI World Championships.
France’s Stephane Tempier, New Zealand’s Wyn Masters and Lukas Dennda of Switzerland will also be looking to challenge for the title.
A challenging route
The Val di Sole E-XC circuit, to be completed multiple times by both the Women Elite and Men Elite, is roughly 3.5km, with around 200m of elevation gain. It's a compact, physically demanding course where technical ability and power management are likely to be just as important as outright fitness.
The climbing comprises a series of steep, punchy gradients that demand frequent changes in cadence. These low-speed, root-covered climbs will require riders to place particular emphasis on motor management, traction and controlled power delivery.
One of the circuit’s defining features is the Bear Forest (Bosco dell’Orso), a high-intensity and demanding section through dense Alpine woodland. The forest floor is heavily crisscrossed with exposed, slippery tree roots, forcing riders to make precise line choices while carrying speed.
Rock gardens, natural drops, large boulders, off-camber root sections and steep technical chutes will all demand sharp decision-making and confident bike handling. Mistakes could cost significant time.
The stage is set for a thrilling start to the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.