UCI Mountain Bike World Championships: Fortunes favour North America in enduro

First six rainbow jersey awarded

The first six gold medals of the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships being held in Valais, Switzerland, were awarded on Monday 1 September for enduro and E-enduro.

In 2024, the French dominated proceedings, with Alex Rudeau taking the rainbow jersey in the men’s enduro, Isabeau Courdurier leading a French 1-2-3 in the women’s enduro, and Kevin Miquel and Estelle Charles taking gold for France in the E-enduro.

But with riders from an increasing number of countries joining the top-level fight, France was far from guaranteed of repeating that incredible feat at Aletsch Arena / Bellwald.

Women Elite enduro: Hoskin starts and finishes strongly

It surprised few to see Canada’s 21-year-old Elly Hoskin – winner of two rounds of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series – win back-to-back stages, but after dropping more than 30 seconds, her advantage disappeared. The two British riders, 2025 overall UCI World Cup winner Ella Conolly and 2024 overall UCI World Cup winner Harriet Harnden, each won a stage, while consistency from Mélanie Pugin – the leading French light – kept her in a podium position.

As they took the final stage, it remained to be seen whether 35-year-old Pugin could overhaul 26-year-old Conolly's advantage. Or might Harnden or Hoskin fight back?

A 5:38 run put Pugin in provisional silver medal position, and the hopes of a French win were over. Harnden went slower, but when Hoskin took the lead, Pugin knew her best chance was bronze. It all came down to Conolly’s run… but she gave away 9 seconds and had to settle for silver. The Canadian flag was soon flying for Elly Hoskin!

“I attacked as hard as I could on the last two [stages] and came away with it,” said Hoskin. “When I knew I was sitting in second I knew it was more about holding that position than making up time… and it worked out.”

Men Elite enduro: Rude pulls out all the stops

After 4 of 6 stages the 2025 UCI Enduro World Cup overall winner Sławomir Łukasik, 2024 UCI World Champion Alex Rudeau and USA’s Richie Rude were all within 10 seconds – having put daylight between themselves and the stage-winning Canadian pair of Jesse Melamed and Elliot Jamieson.

Poland’s Łukasik led by almost 5 seconds after 4 stages but with Rude hitting back on stage 5, there was 0.2 seconds between the two going into the final stage, while Frenchman Rudeau was 10 seconds adrift, an impossible deficit to make up. Thirty-year-old Rude pulled out a great final run, forcing a 2.5-second advantage over Łukasik. Jamieson finished third.

“I only raced two other enduros this year after riding downhill. To be on the top step is unreal right now,” said Richie Rude. “On stage 5, I gave it my all, and saw how close the gap was and had to give it everything on stage 6.”

Women Elite E-enduro: consistency pays

In the absence of 2024 UCI World Champion Estelle Charles (who switched to enduro, finishing 18th), it looked tough for France to retain this title. Laura Charles was their hope.

Great Britain’s Tracy Moseley and Chile’s Florencia Espiñeira Herreros each took three of the day’s eight stage victories, but also lost significant time elsewhere.

New Zealand's George Swift was to only win one stage, but her consistency – that incredibly valuable currency in enduro – throughout the day paid off with the victory. Espiñeira Herreros held off for silver while Moseley settled for bronze.

Men Elite E-enduro: the French in force

Meanwhile, in Men Elite E-enduro, French domination hit a whole new scale, with not just a podium clean-sweep, but seven of the top eight places going to French riders!

Adrien Dailly, 29, won half of the eight stages to claim the victory by more than 30 seconds from Hugo Pigeon, who took 4.53 seconds out of Damien Oton to pip him for the silver medal. Portugal’s Tiago Ladeira was the only non-French rider in the top eight, finishing just off the podium, in fourth place.

Junior enduro: Almueis and Nežka make history

Junior enduro titles of UCI World Champion were awarded for the first time in Aletsch Arena / Bellwald.

The Men Junior title went with form – to an 18-year-old Frenchman. With four wins across seven rounds of the UCI Enduro World Cup, Melvin Almueis topped the overall Junior standings, and backed it up today by becoming the first-ever Men Junior UCI World Champion for enduro. Noé Forlin (SUI) and Gabriel Sainthuile (BEL) took silver and bronze respectively.

Slovenia’s 17-year-old National Champion Nežka Libnik was on fire all day to claim the first Women Junior title, winning four of the six stages and never finishing outside the top three. It reflects the performances seen in this year’s UCI World Cup where she won the only two rounds she raced. France’s Elise Porta was second and Switzerland’s Elena Frei third.