How a team secures WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status

Michelin has a long and storied history in mountain biking, so it made perfect sense when the iconic French manufacturer became a major, long-term partner of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in 2024.But the world’s premier mountain biking racing contest is much more than an activation and marketing opportunity for the world’s leading tyre manufacturer. In fact, each of the race rounds acts as a test bed, where it ideates, creates, and refines its products over the cut-and-thrust nature of a race weekend.Its partnership with Origine Racing Division is a prime example of this relationship. The newly launched team worked closely with Michelin throughout the season, developing a range of cross-country tyres that were put through their paces by up-and-coming talent, such as Mathis Azzaro.The results speak for themselves too – Azzaro finishing fourth and seventh in the XCO and XCC standings overall in 2025, recording six podium places along the way and a bronze medal at the 2025 UCI Cross-country Short Track World Championships.Here, Michelin’s racing program manager Vincent Ledieu explains how the partnership with a UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team led to the development of new race-focused cross-country prototypes.THE ORIGIN OF THE PARTNERSHIPMichelin has been an ever-present at the pinnacle of mountain biking since the sport’s early days, so it was an obvious choice when Origine Racing Division founder Maxime Marotte was looking for a tyre partner to help elevate his new outfit to the top level.“In 2024, Maxime Marotte decided to create his own team after many successful years competing at the highest level in Olympic Cross-Country,” says Vincent Ledieu. “At Les Gets, we were shown the first outline of this ambitious project, and Maxime confirmed to us at Mont-Sainte-Anne, in the Michelin truck, that the team would be launched.“Maxime told us about an exciting roster of riders full of potential. The Origine team also announced that their goal is to develop top-level equipment (bike, drivetrain) as well as young talent (such as Mathis Azzaro).”A PERFECT FITMarotte’s ambitious project struck a chord with Vincent Ledieu, and it matched Michelin’s own development-focused goals.“Our mission at the highest level of competition is to meet the needs of our teams through continuous development of our tyres,” he says. “Competition is a laboratory for Michelin, and our teams are our partners for developing, thinking outside the box, and testing technologies all year long, across several continents.“Maxime came to know Michelin well when he was racing for the BH team. It was during those years that he experienced this ‘development program’, and that is certainly why he thought of us.”A STRONG STARTMichelin wasted no time and delivered prototypes featuring new designs and casings to the team and its riders during the 2024-25 off-season. There has been constant dialogue ever since, with feedback helping to refine the tyres at every stage of their development.“Three tread patterns have been tested, validated, and used in UCI World Cup races. The team has also tried different casing variants and tread compounds,” says Vincent Ledieu.“After a year of intense riding, we have jointly validated a strong-yet-lightweight casing for the most demanding XCO races. A compound has also been approved that offers a good balance between pedaling efficiency and grip in wet and muddy conditions. In addition, we now have a new portfolio of tread designs to give the team the best possible tools to adapt to the terrain and weather conditions they may encounter throughout the season.”But the process isn’t limited to the current range of cross-country tyres, and it’s a continuous development cycle that will influence designs and trends for years to come.“A year of work and technical feedback not only allows us to validate technologies, it also lets us plan ahead,” he explains. “We have already identified improvement areas in our design to give the team better chances in certain conditions. For example, performing well in Short Track is increasingly important for starting the XCO race on the front row, naturally increasing the chances of fighting for a podium. This is why, in 2026, we will work on tyre solutions that allow even better performance in XCC events and in XCO races with less technical terrain.”FUTURE GOALSOrigine Racing Division is clearly just getting started, with riders like Mathis Azzaro and Martina Berta targeting even greater things in 2026. And Michelin will be with the team every pedal stroke of the way, helping them achieve their ambitious targets.“Michelin wants to continue developing and collaborating with the Origine team to give them an even greater chance of reaching their podium goals in 2026,” says Vincent Ledieu. “The Origine team is one of the pillars of our ambition to provide our customers with top-level cross-country tyres. Follow the team, follow us at the UCI World Cups, and you’ll discover for yourself what we’re working on.“But above all, we are looking forward to seeing our team shine in the races and reach podiums throughout the season. The consistent performance of the Origine team and its steady rise throughout the 2025 season give us hope for great results in 2026 – our shared goal is to win.”

In its third season as broadcaster, promoter and organiser, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports drove the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series to new records across broadcast, digital and social platforms, and on-site fan attendance*.2025 reached a true turning point with significant updates to UCI Regulations, including major changes to the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup qualification system and the introduction of WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Teams. These reforms build on a groundbreaking long-term partnership between WBD Sports and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) launched in 2023, unifying most major mountain bike formats under a single brand for the first time.During 16 race weekends in 10 countries across three continents, 64 UCI World Cup winners were crowned, with new overall champions emerging in all-but-one Elite category, highlighting the heightened competitiveness and excitement driven by the latest reforms. On the industry side, 30 mountain bike manufacturers secured UCI World Cup victories through their trade teams during the season with Canyon leading the table, closely followed by Cube and Specialized.The 2025 season also welcomed an exciting new long-term partner venue in La Thuile – Valle D’Aosta  (Italy), which hosted the first-ever UCI Enduro World Cup night race, alongside the introduction of a thrilling Downhill course at a 2024 newcomer venue Lake Placid Olympic Region (USA) and the return of several iconic venues across South America, North America and Europe.NEW BENCHMARKS SET FOR VIEWERSHIPFor the third consecutive year, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series saw record-breaking worldwide TV viewership. WBD’s channels and platforms (HBO Max, Eurosport, discovery+ and TNT Sports) accounted for the majority of the audience, generating over 87 million cumulative views across the season. This growth was fuelled bythousands of hours of racing broadcast on over 25 partner TV and streaming channels, extending the series’ reach to fans in over 150 countries and territories worldwide.As part of the reform, the UCI and WBD Sports also worked closely with the teams to deliver greater exposure and enhanced marketing opportunities. Broadcast graphics were upgraded to maximise on-screen visibility and increase the media value for teams, athletes and brands, incorporating elements such as headshots, race bike images, team logos, colours, career numbers and national flags. These enhancements helped raise awareness among millions of fans watching worldwide, while creating a more cohesive and recognisable visual identity across events and media platforms.In parallel, WBD continued to enhance its broadcasts to help viewers better understand the racing and provide deeper context for fans at home, with accessible, data-driven insights such as heart-rate zones and athlete strain metrics during races — all powered by WHOOP.In 2025, WBD also invested in a portfolio of non-live cycling content, with the launch of two new, original documentaries – Grit and Glory: Enduro Mountain Bike Racing, an inside look at the 2025 UCI Enduro World Cup season, and Race Bikes, a deep dive into the sport’s fastest machines.FAN-LED GROWTHWBD takes storytelling beyond live broadcasts, capturing every moment on and off the track through comprehensive digital and social coverage.During the 2025 season, more than 250,000 new users followed the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series official accounts (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube), bringing the total follower count to 1.25 million. This season, social channels have continued to bring fans closer to the action whilst attracting new audiences to the sport, surpassing one billion impressions since the start of the WBD Sports era in 2023.This interest carried over into the expanded media coverage of the series on owned and earned platforms. The new official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website (an essential hub for all news, previews, reports and athlete profiles) saw record-breaking volumes of traffic in 2025, generating 5 million total page views (+233% vs 2024) taking the total to more than 10 million since the series’ inception in 2023.Along with the millions of viewers watching at home and online, a record 440,000 fans attended on-site, with 97% of those surveyed saying they would return to another WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series event in the future. More than 100,000 descended on Haute-Savoie alone over two weekends of racing in Les Gets and Morillon.Chris Ball, VP Cycling Events at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “The third year of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series has exceeded all expectations. What began as an ambitious vision a few years ago has now become one of the most thrilling spectacles on the international sporting calendar. With the continued support of the UCI, which has embraced our ambition for change, we have introduced reforms that are genuinely transforming the sport and elevating the experience for both athletes and fans.We are proud to see these results reflect the positive response to the changes we believed in from the outset, and we remain confident that we will continue to drive growth and innovation with every new season.”UCI President David Lappartientsaid: "From the opening rounds in Brazil in April, to four months of racing in European destinations, before returning to the American continent for the final two rounds - in the USA and Canada – the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series was an enormous success. Thanks to our collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports we have taken this leading mountain bike series to new heights, both in terms of sporting interest and international popularity. We will continue to work together to build on this success and ensure that both mountain bike athletes and fans can continue to look forward to innovative and exciting season-long competitions.”EYES ON 2026The 2025 season marked the most significant overhaul in mountain bike since the inception of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 1991, reshaping the sport’s landscape, raising professional standards across the series, and elevating elite teams to new levels and new audiences worldwide. Building on these strong foundations, the 2026 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series aims to deliver another record-breaking season across all four formats.The 2026 season kicks off in May with the Race of South Korea – marking the return of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup to the Asian continent for the first time in 25 years. The series will also make first-time stops at Soldier Hollow, Midway, Utah (USA) and Downhill’s spiritual home of Whistler Mountain Bike Park, British Columbia (Canada), delivering on decades of anticipation from fans, teams and athletes alike. And this is just a taste of things to come, with 14 race weekend across three continents, nine countries, including two quadruple headers and a series finale in the US at the iconic Lake Placid Olympic Region.*Figures from January 1st – November 1st 2025

The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series experienced a shake-up at the start of the 2025 series.For the first time in UCI Mountain Bike World Cup history, UCI World Series Team status was introduced, which guaranteed spots on the start line at every round for 40 teams – 20 in Endurance and 20 in Gravity. The new regulations were introduced to make UCI World Cups more competitive whilst providing teams and athletes with greater opportunities for growth and visibility.While 30 of the spaces (15 across each format) were decided by UCI ranking points, five Endurance and five Gravity outfits would earn their places via yearlong wildcard spots.Fiercely contested, they were selected by the UCI and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports based on a scoring matrix that included criteria such as UCI team ranking, UCI Continental Series participation and results, athlete profiles, sponsor profiles and media reach.In Endurance, it saw the likes of multi-discipline stars Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse’s Alpecin-Deceuninck secure its place despite missing out via UCI rankings, while Reece Wilson’s new outfit AON Racing-Tourne Campervan was guaranteed a spot in the Downhill start hut.The 2026 season will see the same five year-long wildcard spaces on offer across Endurance and Gravity, with 19 teams currently awaiting their fate to see if they’ve been selected for next season.Teams likely to be in contention include Alpecin-Deceuninck, AON Racing-Tourne Campervan, and other year-long wildcard picks from last year such as Continental Atherton, Pivot Factory Racing (Gravity), Liv Factory Racing and Mondraker Factory Racing (Endurance).ADDITIONAL SPOTS AT EACH ROUNDIn addition to the wildcard UCI World Series Team spots, there will be up to eight wildcard spots available to regular UCI Mountain Bike teams in each format at each UCI World Cup round.These follow the same selection criteria as the year-long picks, but also considers the home nation of the team as well as recent results.These round-based picks aren’t just to make up the numbers either, and teams and riders can propel themselves from wildcard entrants to major contenders – Rogue Racing’s Thibault Daprela recording a podium (Val di Sole - Trentino, Italy) and 16th in the Downhill overall in 2025 despite only entering as a wildcard.