The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships return to Val di Sole, Italy, from 26 to 30 August, awarding 17 rainbow jerseys across five specialities: cross-country Olympic (XCO), cross-country short track (XCC), cross-country team relay (XCR), downhill (DHI) and E-mountain bike cross-country (E-XC). Racing will take place at Daolasa di Commezzadura, home to the famous Black Snake downhill track and Val di Sole cross-country course.
Val di Sole is used to testing the world's strongest mountain bikers, having hosted the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships three times before, in 2008, 2016 and 2021.
Val di Sole is a mountain biker's paradise for riders of all levels. Two bike parks, the Val di Sole Bike Park and the Pontedilegno-Tonale Bike Park, sit at the heart of the area which includes around 400km of mountain bike trails, six gravel routes and over 40km of bike paths for more leisurely rides. Four childrens' bike parks welcome the youngest riders into the sport.
This commitment to two wheels is why Val di Sole is recognised as a UCI Bike Region, joining a network of 31cities and regions worldwide.
The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships opening ceremony will take place on the evening of Tuesday 25 August with music and entertainment in Malé's Piazza Regina Elena, the valley's main square.
E-XC to get action underway
The Women Elite E-XC race is first up, on Wednesday 26 August, with Austria's Anna Spielmann looking to defend her title. After winning the 2024 UCI E-XC World Cup overall, Spielmann led the 2025 race for the rainbow jersey of UCI World Champion from start to finish to claim gold, Austria's first ever UCI World Championship medal in the speciality.
It's then over to the Men Elite, where it's hard to look past France's Jérôme Gilloux, who has won four of the seven men's E-XC UCI World Championships held so far, including the last two. He'll be aiming for his fifth, and third consecutive, rainbow jersey in this specialty.
The spotlight will shift to the XCR racing in the afternoon. In this spectacular relay, nations enter teams of six riders from the different categories. France won this event in 2025.
Six individual titles awarded on day two
Six titles of UCI World Champion will be awarded on Thursday: for the Men Junior and Women Junior XCO, and the men’s and women’s Elite and Under 23 categories for the shorter XCC format.
The evening will feature a side event: qualification for the Four-cross (4X) Pro Tour. Four riders start together and race head-to-head down a 600m course of jumps, banked corners and obstacles, its final stretch running alongside the bottom of the Black Snake. No rainbow jersey is on the line, but as one of the most unpredictable formats in mountain biking, it makes for a fitting end to the day.
Battling the Black Snake
On Friday, the Black Snake rears its head once again, as the Junior and Elite riders take on its slopes in the DHI qualifying sessions. The track is famous, or infamous, as one of the most technically demanding descents in the world: relentlessly steep, with an average gradient of around 22% that touches 40% in places. Its rock gardens and high-speed chutes have long made it both a rider favourite and a fearsome test, and the reason Val di Sole is known as a cathedral of speed.
It was here that Canadian Jackson Goldstone won the Men Junior title in 2021, and here that he claimed his first Elite UCI World Cup win in 2023. He has since risen to the top of the sport, winning the Men Elite UCI World Championships in 2025.
Several side events will complement the Championships’ Friday programme. Looking to the sport's future stars, the cross-country kids' event takes place later in the day, followed by the 4X final and the Val di Sole Bikeland Party.
Final downhill showdown
Saturday 29 August is DHI finals day, with the Women Junior opening proceedings, followed by the Men Junior riders.
The Women Elite kick off the afternoon's racing, where Austria's Valentina Höll is expected to chase her fifth consecutive Elite UCI world title.
The Men Elite follow. As reigning UCI World Champion, Jackson Goldstone will be the man to beat, but do not rule out France's five-time Elite UCI World Champion Loïc Bruni.
XCO to close competition
The final day of the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, Sunday 30 August, is dedicated entirely to XCO. The action begins with the Women U23, followed by the Men U23.
The Women Elite are first off in the afternoon. Sweden's Jenny Rissveds is the defending UCI World Champion, having ridden clear to take her first Elite title last year, ahead of New Zealand's Samara Maxwell and Switzerland's Alessandra Keller. Meanwhile Swiss rider Sina Frei has been looking strong this year, winning both the XCO and XCC titles at this year's UEC European Championships, both times ahead of Rissveds.
The Men Elite XCO race, won the last two years by South African Alan Hartherly, will bring the curtain down on racing in Val di Sole. Some of the most serious challenges are likely to come from British riders: double Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock and Charlie Aldridge, who won both the XCO and XCC titles at this year's UEC European Championships.
More about the upcoming competitions for each format will be revealed in a series of articles to be published on the UCI website next week.