A Deeper Dive into the 2026 Endurance Season

Apocalyptic conditions greeted the UCI XCO World Cup riders in South Korea as heavy rain turned the course into a mud bath, leaving races that seemed to play out in slow motion. Frei and Lillo defied the miserable weather to chalk up their maiden XCO victories.On the UCI XCO World Cup’s first visit to Asia, Frei became the 53rd women’s victor in the discipline and the 10th to triumph in Cross-country Olympic and Short track in the same week after her Friday triumph in MONA YongPyong, while Lillo joins a club of 63 other male winners.They took their wins in contrasting styles, as Lillo dominated while Frei waited until the final lap to make her move, but both riders lit up the gloomy day with beaming smiles as they crossed the finish line.Meanwhile Nicolas Halter (Thömus maxon) and Valentina Corvi (Canyon XC Racing) claimed victory in the Under 23 competitions, as the 2026 WHOOP UCI MTB World Series curtain-raiser came to a close in South Korea.FREI BESTS RISSVEDS AND MUNRO IN BATTLE ROYALEJenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) looked to have the Elite Women’s race sewn up when she shot out to a 25-second lead on the opening lap, instead she was forced to settle for second following an enthralling race-long battle against Frei and Madigan Munro (LIV Factory Racing).Rissveds immediately piled on the pressure with only Frei and Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) able to follow, as Evie Richards (Trek - Unbroken XC) missed her pedal at the start on what turned out to be a difficult day for the Brit that included a heavy crash.Soon Rissveds went completely clear and appeared set to pick up where she left off last season and run away with her third successive victory, but she hit a wall on the second lap, allowing Frei to re-establish contact after dropping Blunk.As conditions continued to cause problems behind - including domino effects whenever a rider crashed on descent - Frei, Rissveds and Munro continued to trade blows, with the latter attacking Frei as she took the bell for the final lap.Yet the Swiss rider bounced back to first overhaul Munro, who recorded the best performance of her career on the way to the podium, then Rissveds who had led every single time across the line until the one that mattered most.As Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team) inched into view behind, Rissveds slipped at a crucial moment giving Frei the critical breathing space she needed to clinch her maiden XCO win – just months after breaking her hand.“Finally. It took years, but once again our staff was so amazing. We had such great bikes, so light and that was crucial in these weather conditions,” Frei said.“This winter when I was injured, I did a lot of stepper work [in the gym] so maybe it helped me because otherwise I never run! Patience was crucial for sure today, and for me it was important to try and ride my own race. The bike was working so smooth up and down and it was such a great atmosphere here.”LILLO SECURES DOMINANT MAIDEN WINWith Specialized Factory Racing’s reigning champion Christopher Blevins missing the opening XCO round with a collarbone injury suffered in training in South Korea, the Elite Men’s field was wide open and the young guns stepped up in style.The entire podium was aged 25 or under while another of the most impressive riders of the day was Finn Treudler (CUBE Factory Racing), making his first appearance in an Elite UCI World Cup.Treudler’s afternoon was derailed by a series of mechanical issues that the rookie struggled to manage, but even if he had enjoyed a trouble-free race then it would’ve been a struggle to match the peerless Lillo.Like Rissveds, Lillo built a comfortable lead of 17 seconds over Treudler in the first lap as the 22-year-old was the only rider within half a minute of the early favourite. And though Treudler kept in touch for another lap, ultimately his first chain slip cost him any shot at victory and further bike problems consigned him to a 12th-placed finish.With the men’s race significantly more impacted by equipment than the women’s, some riders including Canyon Factory Racing’s Luca Schwarzbauer elected to switch to an intermediate tyre à la Formula 1, while early Specialized Factory Racing contender Martín Vidaurre saw his challenge also ended by a premature puncture.Instead, Cannondale Factory Racing pair Luca Martin and Charlie Aldridge stepped to the fore in Treudler’s absence, toting the famous Cannondale ‘leftie fork’ that worked wonders in the mud, and rode onto the podium at 1:46 and 2:39 behind the victorious Lillo.“I don’t know what to say. At the beginning of the week, when I looked at the forecast and I saw it was rain predicted for Sunday, I already told my teammates that Sunday’s going to be my day,” Lillo said.“When I woke up in the morning it was like ‘ok, today is the day’, I was so nervous before the start. We had a plan and everything just happened.“During the race, before the last lap, I didn’t really have any emotions in me. I crossed the finish line and the feeling I have at the moment, I’ve never experienced something in my life like that.It’s really difficult to put into words, I think I need a few minutes to understand what just happened.”CORVI AND HALTER STORM TO U23 WINSValentina Corvi became the first UCI XCO World Cup winner of the 2026 season as she stormed to U23’s victory at MONA YongPyong.The Italian attacked from the off and built a 40-second lead on the opening lap that she continued to grow throughout the race, eventually finishing 3:28 ahead of Elina Benoit (Lexware Mountainbike Team) as Bailey Cioppa rounded out the podium.Returning to the category that she won by 178 points last season, Corvi stamped her authority on the race immediately with Benoit clearly the second-best rider as she looks to improve on her seventh-place overall finish in 2025.“It’s amazing, today has been a really hard race,” Corvi said. “The mud was really hard and we had to run a lot, it was really tough. I’m super happy to win this.“I just tried to make my pace, my speed and not to make mistakes in the downhill. And just keep pushing, I saw the gap was becoming really big, I’m really happy. I just enjoyed this win and I’m looking forward to the next stages.”Nicolas Halter didn’t have quite as straightforward an afternoon as Corvi, but he also led every lap en route to a 35-second victory.Paul Schehl (Lexware Mountainbike Team) rallied on the final lap to cut almost half a minute off Halter’s lead, but the Swiss rider had built up such a buffer that he still crossed the line arms aloft with no other riders in sight.Like Corvi, Schehl simply rode the rest of the pack off his wheel early on, and Canyon XC Racing’s Thibaut François Baudry was the only other rider to finish within a minute of him.“I can’t believe it yet,” Halter said. “I already felt really good in the first uphill and I knew today is a good day. I think the key today was to ride smooth. Everybody makes faults but no big faults so I think that was the key today. Full gas all the time but never in the dark red.“I just concentrated on myself, I knew the race will be long, it was pretty slow so I just tried to ride smooth all the time and then I got the gap.”Five countries were represented on the U23 podiums, a fraction of the 37 nations that were on the entry sheets across the UCI Cross-country and Downhill World Cup rounds in South Korea.However, neither Halter nor Corvi could help their teams make much impact in the mixed team standings as Specialized Factory Racing lead the way after round one, with Trek - Unbroken XC and Cannondale Factory Racing just 56 and 62 points behind.Frei, Lillo, Halter and Corvi’s victories brought an end to the opening WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series of the season but the Cross-country competitors aren’t out of action for long as the UCI World Cup returns to Nové Město na Moravě in Czechia from May 22-25.

The opening round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series delivered a race weekend to remember, as athletes battled contrasting conditions on new courses in South Korea’s MONA YongPyong.For the likes of Asa Vermette (Frameworks/TRP), Vali Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres), Mathis Azzaro (Origine Racing Division), Dario Lillo (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC) and Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing), Asia’s first UCI World Cup in 25 years will live long in the memory, as the quintet all got their respective 2026 seasons off to the strongest possible start.But the stories of the round run much deeper than who came out on top in the Cross-country Olympic (XCO), Cross-country Short Track (XCC) and Downhill (DH) finals, with events in MONA YongPyong shaping the narrative of the rest of the series.To get the inside line from the athletes themselves, TNT Sport’s The B Line returns for 2026, and features interviews with some of the round’s leading protagonists, getting their opinions and insights on the weekend’s action once the dust has finally settled.HÖLL IN POLE AND PIERRON’S PODIUMIn the opening episode of the series, Emma Stewart headed to the Downhill pits to get the unfiltered reaction after an explosive start to the series that saw first-year Elite Asa Vermette win on his debut race in the class and Vali Höll prove that, regardless of the bike she’s on, she remains the clear favourite for 2026.Vermette’s teammate and five-time UCI Downhill World Cup overall winner Aaron Gwin (Frameworks/TRP) shared his thoughts on his young compatriot’s rise up the ranks and his first memories of going head-to-head with the precocious talent.The rise in competition isn’t just in the men’s field either, but Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon DH Racing) and Sacha Earnest (Trek - Unbroken DH) revealed that there is a level of support between riders that goes beyond the race tape.Stewart also caught up with Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) and got the inside scoop on how he managed to crash in his race run yet still finish on the podium – something the Frenchman said he wouldn’t have believed possible a few years ago.CROSS COUNTRY’S US BOOMIn the Cross-country focus, presenter Ashleigh Wilmot sat down with Gwen Gibson (Trek - Unbroken XC) and Madigan Munro (Liv Factory Racing) to discuss Munro’s first UCI XCO World Cup podium, the contrasting racing experienced between the XCC and XCO in South Korea, and the rise of US riding more generally.“The huge difference between the short track and the cross country is short track is a packed race,” explained Gibson. “You’re constantly around a lot of people. You’re navigating. It’s first lap chaos but for the entire race.The Trek - Unbroken XC rider added that the muddy nature of the XCO meant other strengths beyond pure power shone through. “Your [bike handling] skills really showed through too. It was nice that it showed all sorts of strengths. In [XCO] days like this, it’s who is mentally on it and present and makes the most out of the muddy conditions.”The pair also shared how their history as former teammates at Trek and as part of the national set-up means they have a unique bond that transcends their current teams – with Munro moving to Liv Factory Racing in the off-season.“It’s definitely different to not be spending so much time together but it makes it even more fun when we get back to the races and get to race with each other,” said Gibson. “When I came across the line and was told where [Munro] had finished, I was like ‘no way’. [It’s nice] when you see one of your friends and their trajectory and all the battles.”“We’ve both been through some highs and lows together being teammates,” added Munro. “Even [Gibson’s] short track and coming sixth. It was incredible to see her back in the fight again. We had some tough races last year.”

Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing / TRP) and Vali Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) stamped their authority on a historic opening round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series at MONA YongPyong in stunning style. Höll defied a flat back tyre as she stormed to victory while Vermette became the first rider to win an Elite UCI Downhill World Cup round on debut after qualifying fastest.It was a day for the history books as the UCI Downhill World Cup raced in South Korea for the first time, with Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) equalling Sabrina Jonnier’s record for the most race starts in women’s Downhill (93), while Höll’s victory means Commencal draws level with Cannondale as the winningest bike brand in the women’s discipline.Nicole made it a day to remember by finishing third in the women’s elite final, behind Gloria Scarsi (MS-Racing) and Höll who proved it was new team, no problem.Yet it was a tale of two UCI World Champions at MONA YongPyong as a disappointed Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) began the defence of his overall UCI World Cup title with a 26th-placed finish following a crash.After surrendering the UCI World Cup overall crown to Goldstone in the most dramatic of circumstances last year, it looked like Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) would kickstart his revenge tour with victory, but he was upstaged by the 2025 Junior Men’s UCI Downhill World Cup runner-up in an Elite men’s competition that had everything.Meanwhile Höll wasn’t the fastest woman down the course as Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon DH Racing) sensationally won the Junior race with a time 0.841 seconds faster than the Austrian, and Jonty Williamson (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) won the Men’s Junior crown.VERMETTE LEADS NEW WAVE IN SOUTH KOREAA fascinating challenge greeted the riders in Korea as the surface of the dusty, rocky course made it hard to regain speed after errors, emphasising the importance of smoothness over aggression on the brand new 1.8km run.And a string of Elite male riders started strongly but saw their chances fade on the constantly evolving course, which caused particular problems in the wooded section before the Monster Energy Drop in the third quarter.That was where Jackson Goldstone came unstuck - though that wasn’t even the most dramatic crash of the day - in a men’s marathon competition.Kenneth Ryan Pinkerton (Mondraker Factory Racing DH) spent well over an hour in the hotseat thanks to his benchmark time of 2:47.578. In what was a theme all day, plenty of riders spent time in the green before either succumbing to Pinkerton’s rapid finish or losing control of their bikes, underlining the need for consistency and control on the tricky MONA YongPyong course.Finally, debutant Till Alran dislodged the American after his brother Max (both COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) had been less than two tenths off taking the lead, but his reign didn’t last long as Bruni surged ahead by over two seconds. However, Bruni had barely taken his place on the throne when second-placed qualifier Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) looked set to take another huge slice off the leading time.Pierron was 1.6 seconds in the green approaching the final split but dramatically slid out, then remounted his bike and still went second at less than half a second behind Bruni.“I was quite suspicious about that section, I first lost my front wheel on the previous left, came into the following left maybe with too much angle, too much fire in me. I wanted it so bad,” Pierron said.His slip left just one rider with the opportunity to beat Bruni: Vermette starting his first-ever elite UCI World Cup race.Yet after he was slightly down at the first split, the American responded emphatically to take his historic first victory by a massive 1.5 seconds. He was the lone set of stars and stripes at the top of a leaderboard otherwise dominated by French riders as Bruni, Pierron, Alran plus Loris Vergier (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) and Nathan Pontvienne (Santa Cruz Burgtec by Goodman) all finished in the top six.Vermette paid tribute to the impact of legendary new Frameworks Racing / TRP signing Aaron Gwin (who finished 17th in South Korea) in advising him on how to navigate the time between qualifying and the race, adding: “I was so nervous at the top. My first World Cup, I’m dropping last, I was like ‘Oh my God’, I did a good run yesterday, so I just tried to do the same thing. I guess it worked.“I just had to go back to remembering why I started doing this, I love biking and that’s all I’m doing really, riding a bike down a mountain, that’s all I had to do. It all went away when I got on the track.“I’ve been dreaming of a World Cup win and doing it my first time is insane, I would never have dreamed of it like this. All the emotions were going through my head; I couldn’t believe it really.”HÖLL BACK TO HER BEST TO TAME TRICKY COURSESacha Earnest (Trek-Unbroken DH) was the early pacesetter in the Elite Women’s competition, gliding down the course to set a benchmark time of 3:17.409 that wouldn’t be beaten for another half an hour, as several higher-profile names came up short.Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing / TRP), Phoebe Gale (Orbea FMD Racing) and Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) were all up on the New Zealander before crashing while Gale’s teammate Tahnée Seagrave also came unstuck in the lower part of the course.Indeed, had Cabirou stayed on her bike throughout then, she may have been Höll’s toughest opponent, as the Frenchwoman threw everything at her run and was the fastest rider of the day through the first two splits before hitting the floor.Vali Höll finally ended Earnest’s stint in the hotseat despite carrying a flat tyre that she didn’t notice because of the loose surface, and none of the final five riders even rode a sector faster than the Austrian.Myriam Nicole showed discretion can be the better part of valour on a reserved run that contrasted sharply with her compatriot Cabirou. While not able to end her 624-day wait for a UCI World Cup win, she went second before being knocked down a peg by Gloria Scarsi. Harriet Harnden couldn’t repeat her qualifying heroics, missing out on a podium place by three tenths.“I’ve never struggled that much on a track ever before, I really doubted myself” Höll said. “Or [considered] just going back to Seoul and going shopping or something.“I also know the juniors’ times. Congratulations Aletha [Ostgaard] that’s pretty insane. I have to go a little bit faster or just not look at the times, so I’m not so stressed at the start.“It was really hard to race, it didn’t feel like a proper race run because you had to be so patient and ride it more like Enduro. I’m blown away that I could take the win here especially with a new team and a new bike, new people around. It’s a pretty good time.“I was a bit nervous about Max Commencal being here so I’m happy I could tick that off and I made him happy, made the whole team happy and made myself happy. I hope we can keep it going.”OSTGAARD AND WILLIAMSON DRAW FIRST BLOOD IN JUNIORSMany of the Junior field were racing on this UCI World Cup for the first time, including the spectacular Tilly Boadle (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres), whose eye-catching riding style was spectacular if not so well-suited to the YongPyong course.Instead, 2025 runner-up Aletha Ostgaard became the first victor of the UCI Downhill World Cup season, continuing her fine form from the end of last campaign. Ostgaard’s tidy run secured her third successive win while reigning champion Rosa Zierl (Cube Factory Racing) was forced to settle for second after some minor mistakes on her run.Last off the start ramp, Zierl couldn’t match the woman she bested last season, but the Austrian looked far from disappointed to have 50 points on the board while Ostgaard said:“It feels unreal. Honestly, I know how Rosa [Zierl] is, she just gets faster throughout a run, so I was so scared especially when I saw that first green split. But I had a solid day today, I felt really really good so I knew if I had a clean run in anger, I could put down a good run.“[Qualifying] made me angry in a way, I knew that I could do it, put in a clean run but I struggled in a section and I crashed. When I get angry I do pretty good because I find the fun in having a really hard challenge so when I’m having fun it’s good. I love racing Rosa because she keeps me on my toes, I’m just going to have fun, ride well.”With even more changes to the Men’s Junior start list from 2025, only one of last season’s top ten returning, the second event of the day was incredibly incident-packed. A host of riders bit the dust, none harder than Luke Mallen (Outlaw Intense Racing) whose crash caused a red flag on the course.At that stage Felix Griffiths (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Stan Nisbet (AON Racing) led a British 1-2, but New Zealand came to the fore afterwards initially through Malik Boatwright (Continental Atherton) and Camden Rutherford (Nukeproof Axess Racing)After Alex Mallen (Outlaw Intense Racing) shook off the shock of his brother’s crash by moving onto the podium, Jonty Williamson shot to the top.Sacha Brizin (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) pushed Rutherford into fourth but none of the three remaining riders could beat Williamson as the best returning rider from 2025 won by a quarter of a second from his compatriot.“I’m really happy with it, it’s been a dream since I was a kid to win a World Cup,” Williamson said, in a post-race interview eerily similar to Vermette’s. “Pretty good run, loose up the middle section where I lost quite a bit of time but managed to pull it back so I’m stoked.“It wasn’t my favourite [track] but still a super fun track, super loose compared to the other ones. A bit more slow-paced, quite difficult.”Brizin and Boadle’s podiums helped Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres into second in the Team standings after round one too, though COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction have already opened up a commanding lead of 33 points. Behind them, the battle for the final podium spot currently held by Frameworks Racing / TRP is a tight one with eight teams separated by 22 points.The action continues in MONA YongPyong, South Korea as the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup gets underway on Sunday, completing the first of 14 action-packed weekends of WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series action. Meanwhile Höll, Vermette, Ostgaard, Williamson and the rest of the Downhill field are next in action in the French town of Loudenvielle - Peyragudes at the end of May.