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MTB World Series
Team - 17 Mar 23
Enduro

Who is riding what in enduro?

The complete round-up of all the big off-season movers and shakers in the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup ahead of racing getting underway in Tasmania

Every two or three seasons the stars align and one or two of the top names of the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup shift teams and all of a sudden rides become available up and down the pro pits. Ahead of this years racing getting underway in Tasmania at the end of the month we have had a busy off-season of such team changes so, just to make sure that we are all up to speed, here’s our essential guide to those big moves:

Jesse Melamed to Canyon CLLCTV

It’s a big deal in any sport when the best in the world change jerseys and that’s just what happened at the end of January when Canada’s Jesse Melamed jumped ship from Rocky Mountain RaceFace to join the Canyon CLLCTV.

It was a big one albeit a big one which was inadvertently leaked by the man himself when he posted his own reflection in a Canyon T-shirt reflected in his coffee machine on Instagram. Melamed is one of the few racers to have competed across the 10 years of the Enduro World Series and has, up until now, done so aboard a Rocky Mountain. 

Canyon CLLCTV are one of the most well-respected outfits in the world across all formats of mountain bike racing and to sign up the reigning overall title winner makes a lot of sense and won’t have come cheaply. The legend himself Fabien Barel is deeply involved in the squad and will no doubt be looking to craft Melamed into an even more formidable stage-winning campaigner.

Jack Moir to YT MOB

The rumours around this one had started swirling before the final champagne corks had landed amidst the bubbly-soaked revellers at EWS Loudenvielle. Moir, who boasts one of the best podium hit rates in the pro ranks, was the 2021 overall champ. Last season didn’t go to plan however having been hampered by an off-season injury and a battle to get on with a new bike. 

The tail end of the season went much more according to plan and Jack swept the stages at EWS Crans-Montana. The speed is unquestionably there and if the images coming out of the YT MOB’s training camp in Finale Ligure are anything to go by his bonding with his latest German machinery is going according to plan. 

This is the YT MOB’s first season of stage racing and it will be a learning curve but they have the experience and resources to make it work. In Moir they may well have the ticket to a debut overall title. Christian Textor and Kasper Woolley have also signed up making the squad a genuine threat for the teams title. 

 

Sophie Riva to Sunn French Connexion Racing by Alpe D’Huez

In Sophie Riva, Italy has real hope of finally taking to a UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup top step. The 2021 U21 overall champ has up until now spent her time at that most plucky of taking-on-the-big-dogs outfit Ancillotti Bikes. In her new squad, Riva will have much-needed support and knowledge to draw from courtesy of one of the most professional set-ups in the paddock. Sunn are a byword for ‘race winners’, brands don’t come much more heritage soaked than the French marque. This season could be a big one for both them and Riva.

 

Slawomir Lukasik to Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team

Like the final rounds of musical chairs amidst a sugar-upped children's party, the race to Slawomir Lukasik’s signature at the end of the 2022 season was fevered going on feral. The flying Pole has penned a deal with the team of two-time champ, Richie Rude, where his size and work ethic would seem to make him a logical fit. 

His time on Canyon CLLCTV Pirelli was good but his time in turquoise seems to already be on a much more vertical trajectory with some big pre-season results already heading his way. On a team as focused and fixated on detail as Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team Lukasik may just make good on the crushing speed he’s always shown.

 

Melanie Pugin to Weride Fulgur Factory Team

A new team in the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup pit is Weride Fulgur Factory Team. The name might be new but the pilots are familiar and already successful. Melanie Pugin was virtually unstoppable as she romped her way to the 2021 overall title and Florian Nicolai took Sam Hill to a title decider at EWS Zermatt back in 2019. They are together again having been stablemates on BH Enduro Racing Team and will now front a six-rider line-up.

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22 Jan 26
Morillon and Les Gets to host the Haute‑Savoie rounds of the 2026 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series
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Today, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) Sports, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and the French region of Haute-Savoie are pleased to confirm the two venues that will host the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series rounds from August 14 to 23.The first weekend of action in Haute-Savoie will see the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series return to Morillon on August 14-16 after the venue’s successful debut in 2025. The Grand Massif commune hosted the UCI Enduro World Cup season finale last year and will conclude the six-round series once more, with overall placings on the line at the Enduro Bike Park.Just five days after the dust has settled in Morillon, it will be the turn of Les Gets, which is hosting the final European rounds of the UCI Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill World Cups between August 21-23.A staple of the UCI World Cup circuit since the 90s, when Nicolas Vouilloz, Steve Peat and Anne-Caroline Chausson dominated the Downhill course, Les Gets has been an annual fixture for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Endurance and Gravity athletes since 2019. Last year, Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Max Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) gave the partisan French crowd something to cheer about in both formats, and the passionate local fan base will be hoping for more red, white and blue victories in 2026.The two back-to-back weekends of off-road riding will see the world of mountain bike converge on Haute-Savoie, with live music, entertainment, an expo, and fan activations at the event villages throughout. Last year’s event attracted more than 100,000 fans across the four formats, and big crowds are expected once again.Located in the heart of the French Alps and serving as a gateway between France, Switzerland and Italy, the Haute-Savoie region is a major partner for these two rounds of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series. Deeply committed to mountain bike and to sport more broadly, Haute-Savoie has consistently championed sport as a driver of regional vitality and as a way to showcase its remarkable natural assets on the global stage.The 2026 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series double-header in Haute-Savoie also provides a great preview of what the region has in store for when it hosts the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships. First held in Glasgow in 2023, the event brings together multiple UCI World Championships across cycling’s different disciplines in a two-week celebration of bike-based brilliance.

Article
16 Jan 26
Transfer News: Höll and others reveal who they will be riding for in 2026
Short Track
Cross-Country
Downhill
Enduro

The start of the 2026 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series might still be five months away, but there’s plenty of action for fans to sink their teeth into during the off-season transfer window.Although the number of moves has been a bit less than last year – where rider’s UCI points could help determine a team’s WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status – there has still been plenty to digest and analyse, with new announcements coming almost every day.Here are the transfer headlines ahead of the 2026 series.DOWNHILLThe most anticipated transfer of the 2025-26 off-season has been the destination of Vali Höll. After YT Mob disbanded at the end of the 2025 season following YT Industries’ insolvency, the reigning overall series champion found herself without a team. However, after months of speculation, it was finally confirmed that she will join the French-based Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres squad for 2026.In the same context, her compatriot Andreas Kolb has secured a new home as well, joining 2025 men’s Elite overall winner Jackson Goldstone at Santa Cruz Syndicate, with Brit Laurie Greenland appearing to make way for the Austrian pinner; Oisin O’Callaghan move to Trek Unbroken DH and enduro-turned-downhill rider Kasper Woolley head to MS-Racing.Another team making moves during the off-season are Mondraker Factory Racing DH. The Spanish factory team resigned Ryan Pinkerton on a three-year deal, while Oli Clark has been rewarded with a move from MS-Racing after a solid season in the Junior ranks, which included a UCI World Cup win at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria).Clark will be filling Dakotah Norton’s shoes with the American joining season-long wildcard team Scott Downhill Factory for 2026 and looking to revive the Swiss manufacturer’s fortunes on the world stage. New Zealander Jess Blewitt has also made the switch from Cube Factory Racing.Finally, one of the biggest transfers is Aaron Gwin’s move to Frameworks Racing / TRP. The icon and five-time overall champion has led his own Gwin Racing team for the last two years but moves to the US-based team alongside Anna Newkirk and Asa Vermette, where it is hoped he will contribute competitive results while also acting as a mentor for the rest of the young team.ENDUROImpact of the YT Mob closure wasn’t limited to Downhill, with Jack Moir and Christian Textor both competing for the outfit in the UCI Enduro World Cup. While Textor had announced his retirement at the end of the 2025 season, Australian Moir has only just announced his own – calling time on a successful career that spanned both Downhill and Enduro.They aren’t the only two riders who won’t be present in the new series with 2026’s second-place finisher Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV) also partially stepping back from racing – the Canadian announcing that he won’t be at every round of the new season.CROSS-COUNTRYThe biggest headline of the Cross-country off-season has been the news from Samara Maxwell. The 2025 UCI XCO World Cup overall champion announced a contract extension with Decathlon Ford Racing until 2028 before confirming that she will take a season-long sabbatical in 2026 instead of defending her title.The other main story is the closure of Ghost Factory Racing after 15 years in the sport. The German team was the home of Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller and Caroline Bohé, but all can be expected to be snapped up by other teams with announcements forthcoming.Elsewhere, Nina Graf has moved from Lapierre Unity Racing to Trek - Unbroken XC after some impressive top 10 performances in 2025, while Madigan Munro and Gunner Holmgren will leave the American factory team. Tyler Orschel has joined KMC Nukeproof MTB Racing Team – the Canadian privateer joining Bart Brentjens’ team after almost stepping away from the sport at the end of the 2025 series.Looking to the Under-23 ranks, Men U23 UCI XCO and Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup champion Finn Treudler has had his contract extended with Cube Factory Racing to 2028 as he makes the step up to the Elites.

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