The 20 teams that will form the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Endurance line-up have been confirmed, with some of the sport’s biggest names guaranteed to compete across all nine rounds of the 2026 UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) and Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup calendar.
Riders such as Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing), Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing), Alan Hatherly (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC), Evie Richards (Trek - Unbroken XC), Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are all assured a place on the start line.
FACTORY AND DEVELOPMENT-FOCUSED TEAMS SECURE 2-YEAR LICENCE
The top 10 teams in the 2025 UCI ranking have been rewarded with two-year WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series team licences, and the list is made up of some big factory outfits and plucky underdogs who find themselves at the top table after relying on wildcard entries last time out.
Specialized Factory Racing dominated proceedings last year and it will be tough for its riders to match their success in 2026. Christopher Blevins had a record-breaking year as he navigated his way to a Men Elite UCI XCO-XCC World Cup overall double, while Victor Koretzky made up for a middling season by defending his UCI XCC World Championship title. The team is packed full of firepower – Martin Vidaurre Kossmann and Adrien Boichis both highlighting their potential – while Haley Batten, Sina Frei and Laura Stigger all have elite-level wins to their names.
The second-best spot in 2025 was taken by Decathlon Ford Factory Racing courtesy of Women Elite UCI XCO World Cup overall winner Samara Maxwell’s podium-placing consistency throughout the year. The team will have to do it without the New Zealander for 2026 – the 24-year-old announcing she’s taking a year-long sabbatical from racing – but Savilia Blunk and Joshua Dubau are consistent top 10 finishers on their day and ready to step up.
One team looking up in 2026 is Canyon XC Racing. Home of UCI XCO World Champion Jenny Rissveds, the Swede was in the form of her life towards the end of last season and will be hoping to carry on where she left off when racing gets underway at the opening round in MONA YongPyong (South Korea). Teammate Luca Schwarzbauer showed signs of his best, and the pair will be joined by reigning Women U23 UCI XCO World Cup overall winner Valentina Corvi, who will continue racing in the U23 class this year.
Another outfit that showed promising form towards the latter stages of the 2025 series was Cannondale Factory Racing – Charlie Aldridge picking up his first UCI XCO World Cup win in Mont-Sainte-Anne (Canada) and Luca Martin securing two wins (one XCC, one XCO) in his first elite season. Swiss icon Jolanda Neff completes the squad as they look to wrestle top-dog status back from their US rivals Specialized.
Elsewhere, UCI XCC World Champion Alessandra Keller leads Thömus Maxon’s Swiss teamsheet alongside compatriots Mathias Flückiger and Lars Foster, and Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team gets a youthful boost with Ella Macphee and Gustav Pedersen joining Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot in the elite ranks.
Trek - Unbroken XC’s Evie Richards will be looking to defend her UCI XCC World Cup overall title while Vlad Dascalu returns for the American team. Scott-SRAM MTB Race Team meanwhile will have a Nino Schurter-shaped hole – the Swiss G.O.A.T’s retirement leaving it to Filippo Colombo and Bjorn Riley to get points on the board.
The final two teams with a 2-year licence are U23 UCI XCO-XCC World Cup overall winner Finn Treudler’s Cube Factory Racing, and previous wildcard entrant Bixs Race Team, who have retained Ramona Forchini and Marcel Guerrini as they embark on their first season as a UCI World Series team.
BIG NAMES AND FRESH OUTFITS AMONGST 1-YEAR LICENCE TEAMS
The biggest name to find itself amongst the 1-year licenced teams is Giant Factory Off-Road Team – XC, the home of back-to-back UCI XCO World Champion Alan Hatherly. The South African’s multi-discipline schedule means he isn’t able to bank points for the team consistently throughout the season, but when he does race a UCI World Cup, there’s a high chance he’ll be contributing near-maximum points.
Also, like in the Gravity selection, one team that was ranked in the top 15 teams won’t be returning to the 2026 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series – Ghost Factory Racing folding after 15 years in the sport. This meant that the 16th-best ranked team – BH Coloma Team – snuck into the one-year licence selection and didn’t have to attempt to secure its spot as a season-long wildcard.
It isn’t the last we’ll see of Ghost Factory Racing’s riders though, with Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller and Caroline Bohé all now part of the Lapierre PXR Racing team – a hybrid of the Ghost and Lapierre Racing teams of 2025, which also sees Anton Cooper and Tobias Lillelund retain their spots.
Other teams to secure the automatic WHOOP UCI World Series Team status were Mathis Azzaro’s Origine Racing Division and KMC Nukeproof MTB Racing Team.
STARS AMONGST WILDCARD SELECTIONS
In addition to the top 15 ranked teams, five full-season wildcard spots were made available by the UCI for the remaining UCI Mountain Bike Teams.
The five wildcard spots went to the established outfits Alpecin-Premier Tech, BMC Factory Racing and Liv Factory Racing, as well as teams embarking on their second seasons Orbea Fox Factory Team and Mondraker Factory Racing XC.
This guarantees starting places for multi-discipline stars Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Premier Tech), previous UCI World Cup winners Jordan Sarrou and Loana Lecomte (BMC Factory Racing), and elite stalwarts Simon Andreassen and Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team).
The full list of teams to secure WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status were:
2-year licence
1. Specialized Factory Racing
2. Decathlon Ford Racing Team
3. Canyon XC Racing
4. Cannondale Factory Racing
5. Thömus Maxon
6. Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team
7. Orbea Fox Factory Team
8. Cube Factory Racing
9. Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team
10. BIXS Race Team
1-year licence
11. Trek - Unbroken XC
12. Origine Racing Division
13. KMC Nukeproof MTB Racing Team
14. Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC
15. Lapierre PXR Racing
Wildcards (1-year licence)
16. BH Coloma Team
17. Liv Factory Racing
18. Mondraker Factory Racing XC
19. BMC Factory Racing
20. Alpecin-Premier Tech
The 2026 UCI Cross-country World Cup kicks off on May 1 in MONA YongPyong (South Korea) - marking the first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event on Asian soil in 25 years. From there, the season begins its European leg in Nové Město Na Moravě (Czechia), before heading to Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria), Lenzerheide (Switzerland), La Thuile – Valle d’Aosta (Italy), Pal Arinsal (Andorra) and Les Gets – Haute Savoie (France). The riders will then cross the Atlantic to close out the season in Soldier Hollow, Midway, Utah (USA) and Lake Placid Olympic Sites, New York (USA).
