Book your week off now: the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships run from 8 to 14 September in Araxá, Brazil. The races start at 08:00 local time (GMT-3) each day, so set a recurring alarm if you’re on the U.S. West Coast and add the schedule to your phone calendar before time-zone math trips you up.
The Sierra da Bocaina trails sit 1 050 m above sea level, where red clay turns to peanut-butter mud after the South-American spring showers. Riders will face 1 350 m of climbing per XCO lap, 22% more elevation gain than the 2025 Glasgow course, and a new 2.4 km rock-garden descent that organizers finished cutting in March. If you plan to watch trackside, fly into Confins Airport (CNF) in Belo Horizonte–daily shuttle buses cover the 260 km to Araxá in three hours and cost 38 USD return.
Loana Lecomte owns three of the last four World Cup XCO wins on similar altitude courses, while Tom Pidcock returns as defending champ with a custom 38-tooth chainring for the 18% start climb. On the downhill side, keep an eye on Valentina Höll who clocked 4 min 02 sec on the test event here last October, four seconds quicker than any junior elite man that weekend.
Stream every run live on Red Bull TV–no subscription needed–and toggle the English commentary feed that switches automatically to Portuguese for Brazilian crowd shots. If you’re in Canada or the EU, you can also catch full replays on GCN+ two hours after the finish. Download the UCI 2026 app to get real-time split times; it pushes notifications the instant your favorite rider begins her final lap.
Calendar & Track Intel
Circle 1–7 September 2026 on your phone now; the UCI blocks hotel rooms in Bielmonte, Italy, the moment the booking window opens on 15 October 2025, and last year every lakeside guesthouse within 15 km sold out in 38 minutes.
Downhill finals land on Sunday at 13:00 CEST, but the seeding run on Friday decides the start order and is the only chance to watch riders hit the new rock garden at full speed without a race vest; grandstand tickets cost €34 for Friday versus €58 on race day, so budget-minded fans grab the earlier slot.
XCO goes off at 14:00 on Saturday, and the 3.85-km lap climbs 185 m per lap, topping out at 1 420 m; bring a wind-shell because the ridge above tree line funnels a 25 km/h breeze that drops the apparent temperature 6 °C by lap five.
The short-track course borrows the XCO start loop then dives straight into the new root maze cut last winter; lap times averaged 6 min 12 s during the test event, so expect 18–20 minutes of all-out racing, perfect for a mid-week highlight reel.
Junior races run Tuesday and Wednesday, entry is free, and the gondola still spins for spectators–upload before 09:30 when the junior women roll off to share a cabin with mechanics who will point out the best spectating spots.
Shuttle buses leave Bielmonte plaza every 20 minutes from 07:00 to 19:00, but the 1.9-km hike to the rock garden viewpoint opens at dawn and stays quiet until 10:00; carry 1 L of water because the snack van on that ridge runs dry by noon.
Weather archives show 42 % chance of afternoon thunderstorms the first week of September; if radar turns yellow, the gondola shuts instantly and the crowd funnels onto buses–download the Piemonte Meteo app, set push alerts for "temporale" and you will reach cover before the queue forms.
Exact race days for XC, DH, and pump-track events
Circle 1–6 September 2026 on your calendar right now: every medal gets decided inside these six days. Cross-country kicks off the block on Tuesday 1 September with the Under-23 women at 09:30, followed by Under-23 men at 12:15. Elite women race the rainbow stripes on Wednesday 2 September at 14:00, Elite men close XC week at the same hour on Thursday 3 September.
Downhill starts Friday 4 September morning. Juniors drop at 09:00 for seeding, finals run at 15:30. Elite seeding occupies Saturday 5 September from 08:30–11:00; finals blast off at 14:00 and wrap before 16:00 so the venue can flip for pump-track. Pump-track qualifiers fire at 18:00 that same evening, with knock-outs and the final duel under floodlights from 19:15–21:00. If you want the full triple-discipline sweep, book accommodation through Sunday night; podiums for all three disciplines finish within 57 hours.
Broadcast windows mirror local Austrian time (GMT+2). Red Bull TV streams every race live and free; ORF1 carries German commentary for terrestrial fans. XC races include a 30-minute pre-show, DH adds rider-track analysis between seeding and finals, pump-track gets a split-screen format so you never miss a quarter-final heat. Download the UCI MTB app for real-time splits and push alerts five minutes before your favorite rider starts.
Ticket holders enter the valley station at 07:30 each day; the gondola needs 22 minutes to reach the XC circuit and 35 minutes to the DH start hut. Bring cash for the €6 solar-powered cable-car surcharge; cards stall when the mountain Wi-Fi congests. If you only have one day, pick Friday: €35 grants XC course access until 13:00, then hop the transfer bus to the DH finish zone before 14:00; you’ll catch both elite podiums and still reach the pump-track grandstand before qualifiers fill up.
Trail profile: elevation drop, rock garden GPS pins, weather windows
Drop your fork to 140 mm, set rebound two clicks faster than normal, and save the GPS pin 46.4573° N, 12.3412° E for the 1.1 km slate rock garden that starts 2 m after the wooden bridge; from there you dive 310 m in 2.3 km, loose shale on 28° off-camber slopes, so drop heels, weight the outside pedal and keep eyes 5 m ahead to read the sneaky left line that avoids the wheel-grabbing water bar at 800 m. Track the 11:30–13:15 dry window on race day–alpine storms roll in at 14:00 sharp and turn the final 180° berm into a 4-second penalty mud magnet. Pin 46.4540° N, 12.3385° E marks the last feed zone; grab a 750 ml bottle, ditch the empty cage to shed 65 g, then sprint the 9 % grade fire-road to the rock slab drop that costs 1.2 s if you roll it but gains 0.8 s if you gap the 1.2 m step-down right of the spruce.
- Elevation loss: 730 m total, steepest sector 18 % average, max 34 %
- Rock garden length: 1.1 km, 38 granite slabs, average 0.9 m roll-in height
- Race-day temp: 19 °C at 09:00 start, 23 °C peak, 12 °C summit finish
- Wind: 12 km/h NW headwind on ridge traverse km 4.2–4.7
- Soil: brown podzol, loose over hardpack, 0.3–0.8 m deep
- Line choice: left rut after slab #17 saves 0.4 s, right rut safer when wet
- Spare wheels: 29" x 2.35" Maxxis Assegai EXO 18 psi dry, 15 psi wet
- Live timing chip: right fork leg, clear 3 cm from rotor to avoid spray
Ticket release waves and early-bird price tiers
Set your alarm for 10:00 a.m. CET on 3 September 2025; that is when Wave 1 drops and 8 000 four-day passes go live at CHF 89–roughly 40 % below the walk-up rate. The UCI official shop will queue you automatically; keep one tab open, have your Swiss-billing address ready, and pay with TWINT or PostFinance to shave 30 seconds off checkout. Historically these passes sell out in 17–22 minutes, so hesitate and you will pay more in Wave 2.
Wave 2 lands four weeks later, on 1 October, adding 6 000 passes at CHF 119 and releasing the first single-day tickets: CHF 35 for Tuesday team-relay, CHF 55 for Thursday XCC, CHF 75 for the weekend finals. Junior and U23 categories stay free on qualifying days, so families often lock in Thursday–Friday and hunt weekend seats on the secondary market. If you need grandstand views, upgrade to "Rock-Zone" for an extra CHF 25 per session; these seats hover above the A-line rock garden and sell out faster than open categories.
Between 1 December and 31 January the Early-Bird window quietly reopens for anyone who missed the waves. Organisers drip 2 000 four-day passes at CHF 109 and bundle them with a five-day local bus pass worth CHF 42, so you actually save money even compared with Wave 1 if you were going to buy transport anyway. Students with a valid ISIC card get an extra CHF 10 off; enter the code "ISIC26" before the payment page, because retroactive refunds are not processed.
Corporate hospitality packs arrive on 1 February: covered lounge, breakfast-to-dinner buffet, open bar, and rider meet-and-greet for CHF 450 per day. Groups of ten or more can reserve entire chalets overlooking the finish straight; the deposit is 30 %, the balance is due by 1 May, and cancellation after that date forfeits 50 %. Last year 42 % of hospitality inventory was still available in April, so patience can pay off if you are organising a company retreat rather than chasing the lowest price.
After 1 May only day tickets remain, climbing to CHF 95 on finals Saturday. StubHub and Twickets operate official resale partnerships, so list unwanted passes there; paper PDFs are invalid, and names on badges are checked against photo ID at the gate. If everything sells out, locals often watch the big-screen feed at the "Fan-Dorf" in Leogang centre–free entry, €5 beer, and you still hear the crowd on the hill when riders drop into the last rock garden.
Watch & Travel Hacks
Book the 09:42 TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Nice Ville on 31 Aug 2026, platform 3, seat 21A–this train rolls straight into the UCI fan shuttle window and costs €39 if you reserve before 15 May. From Nice, the 11:15 express bus (line 100) drops you at the Vallon de l’Aigle trailhead in 18 min; the ticket is €1.50 and works with the same contactless card you used on the Paris metro.
Stream every run live with zero blackout: buy a 30-day UCI+ pass for €19.99, set the player to 1080p/50fps, and cast to your hotel TV using the code on your booking confirmation. If you’re already on the hill, the SFR 5G mast above the finish corral gives 320 Mbps down; stand left of the commentary tower to avoid the VIP Wi-Fi throttling that kicks in after 5000 concurrent users.
Pack a 40 L carry-on: stuff a foldable 3 L hydration bladder, one spare tube, and a lightweight rain shell that fits into its own pocket. Check the bag on the way out; on the return, wear the shell–airlines rarely weigh outerwear, so you can load the pockets with race pins, free energy bars, and the commemorative pint glass handed out at the finish zone.
Stay in Contes, 12 km northwest of the course: a double room at Maison de Murie books for €55 weeknights, includes garage space for bikes, and sits two minutes from the 07:05 shuttle that reaches the pits before the warm-up runs start. After finals, the 22:40 night bus back drops you at 23:03–still early enough to grab a €7 socca and a cold beer before the bakery closes at midnight.
Free livestream geobyte work-arounds
Grab a Slovak IP via Proton VPN free Prague server and head to RTVS Šport YouTube stream–UCI lists it as "global" but geofences only Slovakia, so the 2026 downhill finals pop up in 1080p at 60fps with English commentary. If that node is crowded, switch to Slovenia RTV 4D trial; register with any email, no payment, and you unlock a 72-hour pass that resets with a new alias. Bookmark the schedule XML (time stamps are CET-1) so you can queue the relay 30s before start and dodge the mid-race server spike that usually hits at 14:00 local.
| Platform | Geo-check | VPN exit | Quality | Extra step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTVS Šport YouTube | SK only | Prague node | 1080p60 | Clear cookies first |
| RTV 4D | SI only | Ljubljana node | 720p50 | New email = fresh 72h |
| SRG SSR | CH only | Zurich node | 1080p25 | Skip login, press live |
For mobile-only feeds, snag the Kiwi browser, install a user-agent switcher to pose as Android-TV, then side-load the Swiss SRG SSR apk; their geoblock reads SIM MCC, so yank the SIM, tether to a Zurich exit, and enjoy zero-buffer 1080p25 on 4G. Missed the start? Swiss replay stays up 24h, and the chapter markers jump straight to elite men/women finals–no geo-relock. One last hack: archive.org snapshots sometimes cache the Belgian Sporza HLS segments; pair them with the open-source "streamlink" build and you can pipe clean 50fps footage into VLC long after rights expire. If you’re hunting more sport-stream tricks, the same crew that mapped these nodes also broke down how to catch overseas NFL replays–check their walk-through at https://chinesewhispers.club/articles/former-pro-bowl-nfl-lineman-tre39-johnson-dies-at-54-and-more.html.
Nearest airports, shuttle bus timetables, bike-bag fees
Land at Innsbruck (INN) if you want the shortest hop–35 min by regional train to Jenbach, then 18 min on the Zillertalbahn to Mayrhofen. Munich (MUC) gives you the cheapest fares: Lufthansa Express Bus departs Terminal 2 every 30 min from 06:00–21:00, reaches Garmisch in 1 h 20 min, where you swap to the turquoise-and-white Zillertal shuttle that rolls at :15 and :45 past the hour. Salzburg (SZG) looks closer on the map, but the 150 km of single-lane alpine road turns the transfer into 2 h 45 min; use it only if you arrive after 22:00 when the Munich buses stop.
The organiser bike-bus runs from 5–14 Sept, sticker on the windshield, free if you flash your UCI accreditation or €12 cash otherwise. Departures from Innsbruck main station at 07:10, 09:10, 13:10, 17:10; return legs leave Mayrhofen Sportplatz at 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 22:30. Each coach carries 20 bikes in the belly–no box needed, just remove the front wheel and strap it to the rack. Reserve the slot with the driver; no app, no QR code, first-come-first-served.
ÖBB Rail & Ride ticket bundles train + bike-shuttle: €39 from Munich airport to Mayrhofen, bike included, valid the whole calendar day. Buy it at the red ÖBB ticket machines; select "MVV-Innsbruck Zillertal" as the destination and punch the bicycle icon. The ticket covers the regional train to Jenbach, the narrow-gauge line up the valley, and the connecting bus to the Expo car park. Keep the printout; inspectors board twice per ride.
Flying with your ride? Lufthansa charges €50 for a sub-23 kg bike bag on intra-Europe legs booked after 1 Feb 2026; Swiss sticks to €60, Austrian €70. All three waive the fee if your total checked pieces stay within the ticket allowance–so pack your clothes in the same SCICON or Evoc bag and stay under 32 kg. Wrap the rear derailleur in foam, deflate tyres to 40 psi, and slap a Fragile tag on the outside; Innsbruck ground crew hand-rolls sports gear onto the belt, cutting damage claims by half last season.
Last-mile tip: Mayrhofen taxi ranks keep two long-wheelbase vans with bike trailers. Call +43 5285 2201, WhatsApp your hotel and bike count, and they’ll be there in ten minutes. Flat fare €18 to the southern team pits, €24 if your hotel sits up in Ginzling. No night surcharge, cash or Revolut accepted. If you land late and the shuttle gone, this is still cheaper than the €200 airport-special from Munich.
Q&A:
When exactly do the 2026 Mountain Bike World Championships take place, and how many competition days are there?
The full schedule runs from 1 September to 13 September 2026. Racing is spread across nine days: four for cross-country (women elite XCO on Thu 3 Sep, men elite XCO on Sat 5 Sep), three for downhill (finals on Sun 6 Sep), and two for the new short-track team relay mixed event on Fri 12 Sep. The remaining days are reserved for official training, seeding and bike checks.
Is the venue in Bielsko-Biała confirmed, and what makes the course different from the 2024 Worlds in Pal?
Yes, the UCI signed a host-city agreement with Bielsko-Biała in March 2025. The Polish course sits 400 m higher than Pal, so riders face a 210 m vertical climb each XCO lap instead of 150 m. Downhill starts from the historic Dębowiec ski-station ridge, adding a 1.8 km flat-out motorway section before it drops into tight forest switchbacks something Pal short valley run lacked.
Who are the early favourites for the elite downhill title if Bruni and Pierron both retire after 2025?
All eyes are on Lachlan Stevens-McNab, the 21-year-old Kiwi who won two World Cups as a junior and has already beaten Bruni seeding time at Leogang. On the women side, Valentina Höll is the obvious heir she swept the 2025 season and knows the Dębowiec woods from 2023 European cups. Dark horses include GB new junior champ Luke Williamson and France Lisa Gauchon, who grew up riding similar slate-and-root terrain in the Vosges.
Can I watch the finals without a paid streaming service, and will there be a free replay?
Red Bull TV will carry the women and men downhill finals live and free in 130 countries; you only need to create a login. The XCO finals will be on the free tier of the UCI YouTube channel with Polish and English commentary. Full replays stay up for 90 days, so you can binge every race without a subscription. If you miss that window, the UCI will post 25-minute highlight edits that never expire.
Reviews
Charlotte Hughes
Girls, if I train by chasing my neighbor cat up hills, will my thighs be ready for 2026 or will the boys still drop me like a forgotten gel who in to form a cupcake-fuelled cheer squad?
Hannah
Hey Chris, after scanning your piece I’m already circling 12–14 Aug in my calendar, but which trail sector around Val di Sole dishes out the sharpest rock gardens for the women XCO? I’m hunting for spots where I can perch low, cheer loud, and still sprint to the finish ribbon before the leaders flash past any insider coordinates or viewing hacks you can slip my way?
Emily Carter
omg 2026 in finistère! i’ll pack my lucky polka-dot socks and a bag of croissants, then scream at the telly when my chain snaps on the rock garden replay.
KaneRogue
Guys, am I the only one marking 2026 on the calendar so I can watch favourites eat dust in the Alps, pray the stream doesn’t freeze, and pretend I’d totally ride that drop if my knee, job and mortgage didn’t exist, or do you also enjoy paying for pixels instead of plane tickets?
Isabella Morgan
So, Val di Sole in late August mud guaranteed, mosquitoes included. You list Pidcock, Ferrand-Prévot, Rissveds, but what about the juniors who’ll torch the seeding run and vanish into WorldTour contracts before finals day?