After the season’s final European round in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide (Switzerland), the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series has crossed the Atlantic for its last two UCI Cross-country and Downhill World Cups of 2025. The back-to-back weekenders kick off Lake Placid Olympic Region, New York (USA) this Friday (October 3), before crossing the border into Canada for Mont-Sainte-Anne’s landmark 30th UCI World Cup and the final round of the series.
We look at everything you need to know about the Lake Placid Olympic Region round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series races, including when the Cross-county Short Track (XCC), Cross-country Olympic (XCO) 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 Lake Placid Olympic Region (USA) starts with the Women Under 23 Cross-country Short Track at 09:45 (UTC-4) on Friday, 3 October and concludes with the Men Elite UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup at 15:30 (UTC-4) on Sunday, 5 October.
Below are the key timings for race weekend. All times are UTC-4 (BST+5/CEST +6):
Friday, October 3
· 9:45 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women U23
· 10:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men U23
· 16:20 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women Elite
· 17:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men Elite
· 12:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 1 Women Elite
· 13:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 1 Men Elite
· 14:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Women Junior
· 14:20 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Men Junior
· 15:05 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 2 Women Elite
· 15:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 2 Men Elite
Saturday, October 4
· 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
· 14:10 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Elite
Sunday, October 5
· 09:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women U23
· 11:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men U23
· 13:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women Elite
· 15:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men Elite
WHERE CAN I WATCH?
There will be several ways to watch the action unfold at the USA’s only Cross-country and Downhill UCI World Cups of the 2025 season.
The UCI Downhill World Cup Qualification day can be followed on live timing and across social media.
For the ninth UCI Cross-country Olympic, UCI Cross-country Short Track and UCI Downhill World Cups of the season, you can watch the finals live anywhere in the world. Both the men’s and women's UCI Downhill World Cup Junior races will be broadcast live on discovery+ (in front of paywall), HBO Max* (in front of the sports add-on) and MTBWS TV (included in subscription), while the Elite finals will be shown on one of the below channels or streaming services:
North America
Canada – Flosports
USA – HBO Max
South & Central America
All Central and South American territories – MTBWS TV
Carribean – Rushsports (Only Elite XCC and Elite Women’s Downhill races live)
Asia
Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand – Eurosport
China - Zhibo.TV (Only Elite Downhill races live)
All other Asian territories – MTBWS TV
Oceania
Australia – Stan Sport
New Zealand – MTBWS TV
Africa
All African territories – MTBWS TV
Europe
Andorra – HBO Max, Eurosport
Austria – discovery+, Eurosport
Belgium – HBO Max, Eurosport
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Max, Eurosport
Bulgaria – HBO Max, Eurosport
Croatia – HBO Max, Eurosport
Czechia – HBO Max, Eurosport, CT Sport+ (only Elite XCO and XCC races live)
Denmark – HBO Max, Eurosport
Faroe Islands – HBO Max, Eurosport
France – HBO Max, Eurosport, L’Equipe (Only Elite DHI and XCO races live)
Germany – discovery+, Eurosport
Hungary – HBO Max, Eurosport
Ireland – TNT Sports
Italy – discovery+, Eurosport
Moldova – HBO Max, Eurosport
Montenegro – HBO Max, Eurosport
Netherlands – HBO Max, Eurosport
North Macedonia – HBO Max, Eurosport
Norway – HBO Max, Eurosport
Poland – HBO Max, Eurosport
Portugal – HBO Max, Eurosport
Romania – HBO Max, Eurosport
Serbia – HBO Max, Eurosport
Slovakia – HBO Max, Eurosport
Slovenia – HBO Max, Eurosport
Spain – HBO Max, Eurosport
Sweden – HBO Max, Eurosport
Switzerland – MTBWS TV , SRG (Only Elite XCC and XCO races live)
Türkiye – HBO Max, Eurosport
United Kingdom – discovery+, TNT Sports
All other European territories – MTBWS TV
RIDERS TO WATCH
In Downhill, the battle between Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) is set to go to the wire after the series’ top spot changed hands in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide. While neither rider came away with the spoils – the win going to Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) – Bruni’s fifth to Goldstone’s 25th was enough to propel the Frenchman to the top of the standings with two rounds to go. Super Bruni knows what it takes to close out an overall series from here, but UCI Downhill World Champion Goldstone will be hoping to bounce back and reduce the 100-point deficit ahead of a final showdown on home soil in Mont-Sainte-Anne (Canada).
The women’s overall also hangs finely in the balance, with Valentina Höll (YT Mob) boosting her advantage over Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) to 137 points in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide. Like the men’s contest, neither title contender won in Switzerland – Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) picking up her third UCI World Cup win of the season and narrowly edging Nina Hoffman (Santa Cruz Syndicate) by six-hundreths of a second. The Brit sits in third place in the overall and is now up to fifth in the all-time race winners standings, but her inconsistencies this year and her 300-point deficit to Höll leaves it as a two-horse race with two rounds to go.
Either side of the Downhill action is the Friday’s XCC and Sunday’s XCO, with both series still to be decided.
Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) and Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) lead the respective UCI XCC series, but both riders had very different weekends in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide. Blevins’ season has been one of two halves – the American literally unbeatable for the first five rounds, while in his last three races, he has finished 2nd, 17th and 26th. He only needs to finish in the top 30 to secure the overall series, but will be targeting a strong performance in front of a partisan home crowd. Teammate and back-to-back UCI XCC World Champion Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) won last time out and is the rider most likely to spoil Blevins’ party.
Richards meanwhile appears to have overcome a mid-series wobble and reaffirmed her position at the top of the table with second in Bike-Kingdom Lenzerheide. The 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Champion in XCC now has a 110-point lead over the current rainbow jersey, Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), while the winner in Switzerland, Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), is a further 100-points back in third. The Brit could clinch the overall on Friday, but needs to win and for other results to go her way.
Victory on Sunday could also wrap-up the title for Blevins in the XCO, but he needs a 330-point margin over teammate Martin Vidaurre Kossmann (Specialized Factory Racing) going into Mont-Sainte-Anne to make it definite – his lead currently stands at 290 points. Like in the XCC, the American’s season appears to have gone off the boil, and his 27th place in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide was his second-worst performance of the series. Alan Hatherly (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) is currently the rider in form, having followed up his UCI XCO World Championship victory in Crans-Montana, Valais (Switzerland) with a win in Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide. However, he will not be participating in the last two rounds, ruling him out of contention.
In the women’s field, Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) could also mathematically wrap things up if she does the XCO-XCC double, but the New Zealander will have to get the better of the UCI XCO Mountain Bike World Champion Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) and Bike Kingdom-Lenzerheide UCI XCO World Cup winner Keller to have any chance of securing her country’s first-ever overall series.
Racing gets underway on Friday, October 3 in Lake Placid Olympic Region, New York.
Full schedule and event details are available HERE.
