| Format | Rank | Total points |
|---|---|---|
XCO | 1 | 2341 |
XCC | 5 | 1239 |
U23 World Champion in 2023, the New Zealand rider had a very promising first elite season, including an eighth-place finish at the Paris Olympics and her first top-ten result on the World Series circuit.
After a great winter at home in New Zealand, where she dominated the national and Oceania championships, "Sammie" Maxwell burst onto the scene at the start of the season by winning the Araxá round. Finishing second four times in the subsequent rounds, she delivered a masterful performance at Pal Arinsal to claim her second victory. At the time of writing, Samara Maxwell had not yet secured the 2025 World Series overall title but held a significant lead. Now in her second season in the elite category, the young woman who lives in Morzine in the Alps and studies French is already the star of the 2025 season.
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 LICENCEThe 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.Scott-SRAM MTB Race Team enter a new chapter following Nino Schurter’s retirement with an established and competitive line-up in Filippo Colombo, Fabio Puntener and Bjorn Riley ready to carry the team forward and score consistently. Elite stalwarts Simon Andreassen and Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team) meanwhile will be hoping to push on in the team’s second season.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 TEAMSThe 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.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.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. It isn’t the last we’ll see of its 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 SELECTIONSIn 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, BH Coloma Team, BMC Factory Racing and Liv Factory Racing, as well as Mondraker Factory Racing XC, who will line up for its second season.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).The full list of teams to secure WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status were:2-year licence1. Specialized Factory Racing2. Decathlon Ford Racing Team3. Canyon XC Racing4. Cannondale Factory Racing5. Thömus Maxon6. Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team7. Orbea Fox Factory Team8. Cube Factory Racing9. Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team10. BIXS Race Team1-year licence11. Trek - Unbroken XC12. Origine Racing Division13. KMC Nukeproof MTB Racing Team14. Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC15. Lapierre PXR RacingWildcards (1-year licence)16. BH Coloma Team17. Liv Factory Racing18. Mondraker Factory Racing XC19. BMC Factory Racing20. Alpecin-Premier TechThe 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).
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.
