A big week looms in Val di Sole, Italy for the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
Racing begins tonight in the Trentino region and runs through to Sunday encompassing cross-country, downhill and E-MTB world championship battles.
Val di Sole is a known commodity for the international mountain bike paddock, with the Italian destination having already hosted the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 2008, 2016, and 2021.
It's also a longstanding host of the discipline’s UCI World Cup, most recently welcoming a stopover of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, which featured UCI World Cup rounds for cross-country Olympic (XCO), cross-country short track (XCC) and downhill.
An ARA Australian Cycling Team of 28 will fly the flag over the next five days, notably led by cross-country star Rebecca Henderson racing at her last World Championships after announcing this season would be her last on the international circuit.
"My first World Championships were in Val di Sole. To do my last Mountain Bike World Championships at the same place where I started – there were three World Championships that I've been to in Val di Sole and I was at them all – is kind of nice. It's an amazing place," she told Pinkbike a fortnight ago.
Henderson's XCO World Cup season best this year was 11th in Leogang back in June; her XCC season best of fifth also came in Leogang.
On the downhill side, reigning elite national champions Elleni Turkovic and Luke Meier-Smith will be in the mix, as will veteran Troy Brosnan on his 16th World Championship appearance.
Brosnan enters Val di Sole ranked eighth in the Downhill World Cup standings as the top Australian after a consistent season.
A standout season from Western Australian Connor Wright provides plenty of promise for Thursday's Junior XCO.
The 18-year-old has two UCI XCO Junior Series wins to his name from Nové Město na Moravě and Heubach.
Wright was back racing on the mountain bike earlier this month after a successful stint on the road and recorded finishes of third and first at two Vittoria-Fischer MTB Cup races in Switzerland.
Tilly Boadle has also impressed at the Junior Downhill World Cup level this year courtesy of third in Mona YongPyong, fifth in Pal Arinsal and sixth last weekend in Haute-Savoie.
ARA Australian Cycling Team - 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Cross-country
Elite Women
- Rebecca Henderson (Canberra Off-Road Cyclists / ACT)
U23 Men
- Harry Doye (Red Hill Riders MTB Club / VIC)
- Jack Ward (Yarra Ranges Mountain Bikers / VIC)
Junior Men
- Oliver Grande (Canberra Off-Road Cyclists / ACT)
- Connor Wright (Ferguson Valley MTB Club / WA)
Junior Women
- Freya Buckmaster (Shredding Betties / TAS)
- Alana Fletcher (Bendigo Mountain Bike Club / VIC)
Downhill
Elite Women
- Sacha Mills (Kooralbyn Valley MTB Club / QLD)
- Elleni Turkovic (Garigal Gorillas MTB Club / NSW)
Elite Men
- Zac Bradley-Hudson (Jindabyne Cycling Club / NSW)
- Troy Brosnan (Inside Line DH / SA)
- Jackson Connelly (Jindabyne Cycling Club / NSW)
- Oliver Davis (Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers / VIC)
- Luke Meier-Smith (Maning Great Lakes Tip Riders / NSW)
- Jed Stanton (Red Hill Riders MTB Club / VIC)
- Patrick Ward (Yarra Ranges Mountain Bikers / VIC)
Junior Women
- Zuri Acheson (Garigal Gorillas MTB Club / NSW)
- Tilly Boadle (Red Hill Riders MTB Club / VIC)
- Matilda Henness (Jindabyne Trail Stewardship / NSW)
- Rebecca Sams (Tamworth Mountain Bikers / NSW)
Junior Men
- Byron Best (Outlook Riders Alliance / QLD)
- Jesse Bocking (Jindabyne Cycling Club / NSW)
- Oliver Colthup (Toowoomba MTB Club / QLD)
- Bryn Couzin (Western Sydney MTB Club / NSW)
- Bailey Mills (Kooralbyn Valley MTB Club / QLD)
- Jonte Tummon (Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils / TAS)
- Daniel Turkovic (Garigal Gorillas MTB Club / NSW)
- Rhys Wellings (RATS Cycling Club / QLD)
Full schedule
All times listed in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).
Day 1 - Wednesday, August 26
- 18:00 | Women Elite E-MTB Cross-country
- 19:30 | Men Elite E-MTB Cross-country
- 01:00 (+1) | Mixed Team Relay
Day 2 - Thursday, August 27
- 17:30 | Women Junior XCO
- 19:00 | Men Junior XCO
- 23:30 | Women U23 XCC
- 00:30 (+1) | Men U23 XCC
- 01:45 (+1) | Women Elite XCC
- 02:30 (+1) | Men Elite XCC
Day 3 - Friday, August 28
- 18:30 | Women Junior Downhill - Qualifying
- 18:30 | Men Junior Downhill - Qualifying
- 23:30 | Women Elite Downhill - Qualifying
- 23:30 | Men Elite Downhill - Qualifying
Saturday, August 29
- 17:15 | Women Junior Downhill - Final
- 18:00 | Men Junior Downhill - Final
- 21:20 | Women Elite Downhill - Final
- 23:00 | Men Elite Downhill - Final
Sunday, August 30
- 17:00 | Women U23 XCO
- 19:00 | Men U23 XCO
- 21:00 | Women Elite XCO
- 23:15 | Men Elite XCO
How to watch
Select events will be live streamed on Stan Sport.
- Friday, August 28 from 01:35 AEST: Elite XCC
- Saturday, August 29 from 21:05 AEST: Elite Downhill
- Sunday, August 30 from 20:50 AEST: Elite XCO
Where to follow results
You can view start lists, live timing and final results on Tissot Timing.
Feature picture: Ed Sykes/SWpix.com