After an iconic UCI Enduro World Cup season opener in Pietra Ligure, Finale Outdoor Region (Italy), the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series keeps the Gravity action coming this weekend with downhill also joining the fray in the Enduro Trails of Bielsko-Biała, Poland.
We look at everything you need to know about the Bielsko-Biała round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, including when the enduro and downhill events are scheduled to take place, who is racing and how to watch.
WHEN?
The 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Bielsko-Biała, Poland, starts with the UCI Enduro World Cup at 8:00 (UTC+2) on Saturday, May 17 and concludes with the Men Elite UCI Downhill World Cup at 14:00 (UTC+2) on Sunday, May 18.
Below are the key timings for race weekend. All times are UTC+2 (EST+6/BST+1/CEST):
Saturday, May 17
- 08:00 – UCI Enduro World Cup
- 12:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying 1 Women Elite
- 13:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying 1 Men Elite
- 14:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying Women Junior
- 14:40 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying Men Junior
- 15:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying 2 Women Elite
- 15:50 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualifying 2 Men Elite
Sunday, May 18
- 11:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Junior
- 12:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Junior
- 13:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Elite
- 14:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Elite
WHERE CAN I WATCH?
There will be several ways to watch the Gravity-packed action unfold in Poland.
For the UCI Enduro World Cup, there will be a course preview featuring the route and its key sections, practice day and race day video highlights on the official YouTube channel, key race moments on social media and live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website.
For the first UCI Downhill World Cup of the season, you can watch the finals live anywhere in the world. Both the Men Junior and Women Junior UCI Downhill World Cup races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, while the Elite finals will be shown on one of the below channels or streaming services. Pre-show starts at 12:45 UTC+2, so set a reminder to join Ric McLaughlin live from Poland:
North America
- Canada – Flobikes
- USA – Max
South & Central America
- All Central and South American territories – MTBWS TV
- Caribbean – Rushsports 2
Asia
- Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand – Eurosport
- China – Zhibo.tv
- All other Asian territories – MTBWS TV
Oceania
- Australia – Stan Sport
- New Zealand – MTBWS TV
Africa
All African territories – MTBWS TV
Europe*
- Andorra – MAX, Eurosport
- Austria – discovery+, Eurosport
- Belgium – HBO Max, Eurosport
- Bosnia & Herzegovina – Max, Eurosport
- Bulgaria – Max, Eurosport
- Croatia – Max, Eurosport
- Czechia – Max, Eurosport
- Denmark – Max, Eurosport
- Faroe Islands – Max, Eurosport
- France – Max, Eurosport, L’Équipe Live 2 (OTT)
- Germany – discovery+, Eurosport
- Hungary – Max, Eurosport
- Ireland – TNT Sports
- Italy – discovery+, Eurosport
- Moldova – Max, Eurosport
- Montenegro – Max, Eurosport
- Netherlands – HBO Max, Eurosport
- North Macedonia – Max, Eurosport
- Norway – Max, Eurosport
- Poland – Max, Eurosport
- Portugal – Max, Eurosport
- Romania – Max, Eurosport
- Serbia – Max, Eurosport
- Slovakia – Max, Eurosport
- Slovenia – Max, Eurosport
- Spain – Max, Eurosport
- Sweden – Max, Eurosport
- Switzerland – MTBWS TV
- Türkiye – Max, Eurosport
- United Kingdom – discovery+, TNT Sports
- All other European territories – MTBWS TV
RIDERS TO WATCH
The Bielsko-Biała venue made its UCI World Cup debut last year and instantly became a rider and fan favourite. Ronan Dunne (Mondraker Factory Racing), Marine Cabirou (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team), Charles Murray (Specialized Gravity) and Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective) won their respective events in 2024, but few would predict an exact repeat in Poland this weekend.
In the Men’s enduro competition, Slawomir Lukasik (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) is the rider to watch. The 32-year-old Pole led in Pietra Ligure, Finale Outdoor Region last weekend until the final stage, when Daniel Booker’s searing final run saw the Australian leapfrog him at the last, meaning Lukasik missed out on his first UCI World Cup win by less than a second. It was a similar story in Bielsko-Biała last year too, and he will be hoping he can use home support to his advantage in getting over the line.
Lukasik won’t have it easy though. While team-mate and 2024 UCI Enduro World Cup overall series winner Richard Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) will be focusing on downhill this weekend, reigning UCI Enduro World Champion Alex Rudeu, Jack Moir (YT Mob) and 2024 UCI E-Enduro World Cup overall series winner Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) will all be in contention.
The Women’s Enduro competition is also wide open with last year’s winner Isabeau Courdurier not racing and Pietra Ligure’s fastest rider Harriet Harnden (AON Racing – Tourne Campervans) focused on downhill. Morgan Charre (Pivot Factory Racing) has the experience, but Ella Conolly has also started 2025 strong with a second-place finish in Italy.
In Downhill, the reigning WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series overall winners Valentina Höll (YT Mob) and Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) will be aiming to get their title defences off to a strong start while hoping to make amends for missing out on the top spot in Poland last year.
Harnden is Höll’s most interesting competition and it will be intriguing to see how the Enduro rider handles a different format, while Nina Hoffman (Santa Cruz Syndicate), Cabirou and Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) can all lay down race-winning runs.
In the Men’s Elite, Rude is another format-crossing rider worth keeping an eye on, while downhill purists Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team), Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) and Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off by Racing Addiction) mean it’s not a foregone conclusion for Super Bruni.
Racing gets underway on Saturday, May 17 in Bielsko-Biała.
Full schedule and event details are available HERE.
