Never before has the entry list for a UCI BMX Racing World Cup event surpassed 350 riders, but this will be the case at the opening rounds of the 2025 campaign in Sarrians, France, this weekend.
The popularity of the discipline has reached its greatest ever heights in France, due, in no small part, to the nation’s gold, silver, and bronze medals in the men’s competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines last summer. French riders have signed up in greater numbers than ever to race on home soil on 14 and 15 June.
The following weekend, the 2025 UCI BMX Racing World Cup continues with Rounds 3 and 4 in Papendal, Netherlands, and concludes 20-21 September with Rounds 5 and 6 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, where the overall winners (Men Elite, Women Elite, Men Under 23 and Women Under 23) will be crowned. There are no fewer than 112 French BMX Racing athletes set to race at Round 1, with the Men Under 23 category registering the most entries. With 169 entries and only eight spots in the final, things will need to go right all day in order to make that final race, let alone take the win! Riders will get a second chance the following day with the second round of the UCI BMX Racing World Cup.
With 300 days of sunshine per year in Sarrians, hopes are high for a good weekend of racing. It can get windy but as the grandstands surrounding the track are certain to be filled with spectators, some of it will be blocked.
Women Elite: open battle
Athletes have been able to spend time on the Sarrians track and even had the opportunity to race the French Cup the previous weekend. Olympic Champion Saya Sakakibara (AUS) has put in some laps already and considered the track ‘nerve wracking’.
Axelle Etienne (FRA) managed to grab a win at the French Cup, showing her form, and Olympic medalists Merel Smulders and Manon Veenstra (both NED) finished in the top 4 on the smooth track. Add Great Britain’s Bethany Shriever (2020 Olympic Champion and UCI World Champion in 2021 and 2023) and Switzerland’s Zoe Claessens (2024 Olympic bronze medallist and UCI World Championships silver medallist) to the mix this weekend and the results might look different already.
Men Elite: home win for the French?
It's no secret that the French are strong in the Men Elite category; the podium clean-sweep at the Paris Olympics was evidence enough of that. But beyond Joris Daudet, Sylvain André and Romain Mahieu, France also has plenty of other Elite racers who can make a podium at a UCI BMX Racing World Cup race, including Arthur Pilard and Léo Garoyan.
The USA’s Cameron Wood is on form, winning several times at USABMX races this season. He’s never satisfied if he does not win, so that could get interesting in France. And with Isaac Kennedy of Australia, Rico Bearman from New Zealand, Great Britain’s Ross Cullen and a strong delegation from Switzerland, we’re set for strong racing starting from Round 1.
Favourites for Under 23 titles
Ecuador’s Pedro Benalcazar Guerrero currently heads the Men Under 23 UCI BMX Racing Ranking, and no-one gets to that position without being fast. He will be racing overseas at Rounds 1 to 4 but is closer to home when the season concludes in September.
Three Dutch riders are currently ranked 2nd to 4th with Jason Noordam second. He recently scored an Elite podium at the UEC European Cup in Tiel (Netherlands), showing his form and potential for the overall in 2025. For Noordam, the race on his home track at Papendal can’t come soon enough.
There are 57 entries from all over the world lining up in Sarrians in the Women Under 23 category. Competition is wide open, as Australians Teya Rufus and Bella May, who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the Women Under 23 UCI BMX Racing World Cup overall last year, join the Elite ranks in 2025. If Lissi van Schijndel (NED) wants to stay on top of the UCI ranking in the U23 category she will have to do well in France because Belgium’s Valerie Vossen isn’t far behind. Latvia’s Veronika Sturiska is the 2024 National, European and UCI World Champion so she must be included in the list of favorites for the U23 overall.
French eyes, meanwhile, will be on Marie Favrel who is racing in her last year as an Under 23 rider before moving up to the Elite. The USA’s Ava Corley is another athlete to watch out for.