The countdown is on for the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland
On Tuesday 13 September, it was announced that in three years’ time, Valais will host the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which will bring together seven mountain bike disciplines for the first time in history. To officially mark the start of the preparations, the CM MTB Valais 2025 Association presented the project on Tuesday morning in Sion, the capital of the Valais canton, together with the nine host destinations and world-class athletes such as Swiss cyclists Jolanda Neff and Camille Balanche.
This historic competition will mark the first time that seven mountain bike disciplines will be contested over two weeks in the same region, represented by nine destinations. The nine participating destinations are Crans Montana for the cross-country, Région Dents du Midi for the downhill, Grächen for the E-MTB, Leukerbad for the enduro, Verbier and Val d’Anniviers for the marathon, Monthey for the pump track, Zermatt for the short track and Sion for the opening ceremony and entertainment. Director of the CM MTB Valais 2025 Association, Julien Hess described it as “both a challenge and on opportunity to be the first to organise this competition in this format. The Valais is perfectly suited to it. We are looking forward to hosting this great mountain bike festival”.
Verbier is becoming a flagship destination for mountain-biking, surrounded by some of the highest peaks in the Alps, the region holds hundreds of kilometres of trail. From rocky and technical, to flow trails through the forest and small mountain villages, the choice of trails is endless. The Verbier Bike Park offers seven lift accessed tracks, all with stunning views of glaciers and mountains. Verbier is well experienced with hosting biking events, having regularly hosted the Grand Raid BCVS and the Verbier E-Bike festival. For the 2025 Mountain Bike World Championships, Verbier will have the chance to host the Marathon event in collaboration with Val d’Anniviers, this race will be similar to the legendary Grand Raid mountain bike race, the largest mountain bike race in Europe, departing from Verbier and finishing in Grimentz, in the Val d’Anniviers.
This World Championships, will give a new dynamic to the already blossoming mountain bike culture in Verbier. Between now and 2025, several large-scale projects will be set up to make the canton more attractive to this discipline all year round. There are plans to approve new routes and to develop three regional routes. From next year, there will be a focus on legacy projects that aim to encourage young people to take up cycling and to support the growth of women’s cycling and mountain biking, to build the next generation of cyclists. All these projects, which will be introduced progressively, aim to secure the sustainability of the mountain bike trend which has been observed over the last few years in Verbier.
About Verbier:
A classic Swiss resort, the choice of so many keen skiers and even royalty, Verbier has it all. Despite the expert skiing on offer, lively après ski and luxurious surroundings it is the lesser-known areas and aspects of Verbier that ensure this resort is one of the best. The Bruson ski area, the eco accommodation, the smaller villages of the area all add to the famous main resort centre.
In the summer, Verbier has something to offer every kind of mountain biker; in fact, you can try out every discipline of mountain biking, all in the very same day. From meandering cross country to fast adrenalin-pumping downhill to epic enduro and even dirt jumping, Verbier has it all. Few locations have such broad scale of options and all offering participants the best quality trails, jumps and heart-pounding good times. www.en.verbier.ch/
