Switzerland’s Sina Frei and Tom Pidcock of Great Britain won the Elite UCI world titles, after home rider Valentina Corvi and Frenchman Na\u00ebl Rouffiac had taken the honours in the Under 23 competitions at the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sina Frei dominated the Women Elite race from start to finish in a show of strength and endurance. Her time of 1:27:50 was over a minute ahead of Italy\u2019s Martina Berta in second, who edged out Switzerland\u2019s bronze-winning Nicole Koller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a dream,\u201d Frei said. \u201cI tried to push hard on the steep climbs and recover on the descents. My season has been so good, so I decided to treat this race as a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frei set out her intentions early, leading through lap one of seven alongside Berta and the 2025 UCI World Champion and UCI XCO World Cup leader Jenny Rissveds (SWE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the second lap kicked in, so did Frei\u2019s race-winning intentions. The 29-year-old cranked up pressure on the climbs, soon dropping Rissveds. Berta took up second-place duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decisive moment came on lap three, as Frei dug deep and carved out an 11-second lead over Berta \u2013 who was soon to be joined by Nicole Koller \u2013, showing the form that has led to a remarkable run of results including victory at the UEC Mountain Bike European Championships plus success at last week\u2019s UCI World Cup round in Les Gets (France).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swiss kept pushing and by the start of the penultimate lap (six), her advantage over the chasing duo had grown to 56 seconds. Rissveds\u2019 chances had completely evaporated, with a puncture haemorrhaging further time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist took a dominant victory, adding the Women Elite rainbow jersey to the Women Under 23 UCI world titles she won in 2017 and 2019. Behind the unreachable Frei, the battle for silver saw Koller lead out of the last corner, but Berta timed her sprint to perfection to take silver in 1:28:57. Koller was given the same time for bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Men Elite race, much of the talk centred on the battle between Great Britain\u2019s Tom Pidcock and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. But it was Pidcock who proved worthy of the headlines, as he rode to his second UCI World Championships XCO victory. Similar to his first UCI world title in Glentress, Scotland (United Kingdom) three years ago, the 27-year-old stormed to the front from deep within the field. Fellow British rider Charlie Aldridge finished second with Canada\u2019s Cole Punchard winning bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race began with one of the pre-race favourites, France\u2019s Adrien Boichis, riding to the front. Boichis has been in fine form, winning the cross-country short track (XCC) UCI world title earlier in the competition, following UCI World Cup victory (XCC and XCO) in Les Gets the previous weekend. Van der Poel, who finished second behind Boichis in France, and Pidcock were buried back in the field after starting on the fifth row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Van der Poel was never in the mix, it didn\u2019t take long for Pidcock to battle his way up the field in pursuit of the front riders, including Chile\u2019s Mart\u00edn Vidaurre Kossman, Canadian Cole Punchard and Boichis, who continued to look strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British rider made his decisive move on lap six, attacking hard on the opening climb to split the front group. Boichis was unable to hold the pace. Aldridge and Vidaurre Kossmann initially stayed with Pidcock, while Punchard was dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Into lap seven, Pidcock attacked again and Vidaurre Kossmann was the next to lose contact, leaving Pidcock and Aldridge at the front. Come the start of the final lap, Pidcock had created daylight with a nine-second lead over Aldridge. Behind them, Punchard moved into thirdafter Vidaurre Kossmann suffered a mechanical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pidcock crossed the finish line victorious in 1:25:26, 17 seconds ahead of Aldridge, followed by Punchard. Kossman finished fourth, and Boichis in fifth. The two-time and 2025 UCI World Champion Alan Hatherly (RSA) finished 27th after puncturing, with van der Poel in 30th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was hard here after [finishing ninth at] the Tour [de France],\u201d Pidcock said. \u201cI knew it was a course that you had to ride within your limits. I crashed badly in practice on Friday. My back was hurting on the first lap and I couldn\u2019t go any quicker, so I stayed at a pace that I could hold. The last two laps, I just pushed as hard as I could to see if I could stretch a gap before a final sprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newly-crowned UCI World Champion added that he would focus more on the road in 2027 before returning to mountain bike to prepare for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. It would appear he is intent on winning a third successive Olympic title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, Italy\u2019s Valentina Corvi had won the opening race of Sunday\u2019s programme, taking the Women Under 23 UCI world title in 1:19:34. The 21-year-old rode to the front early in the race and gradually stretched the field lap by lap. By the finish she\u2019d built a commanding 43-second advantage over Switzerland\u2019s Anina Hutter, who took silver. Hutter\u2019s teammate, Monique Halter, fresh from winning the XCC UCI world title, took bronze with another Swiss, Fiona Schibler, in fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corvi\u2019s victory continued an exceptional Under 23 season that hass included victories in six of the seven UCI World Cup rounds she has contested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Men Under 23 category, a tightly bunched group nestled at the front for much of the seven-lap race. France\u2019s Na\u00ebl Rouffiac and Alix Andr\u00e9-Gallis, Switzerland\u2019s Nicolas Halter \u2013 who like his sister had already won the XCC rainbow jersey \u2013 Germany\u2019s Paul Schehl and Denmark\u2019s Gustav Heby Pedersen were all in contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rouffiac attacked on lap five, creating a gap of 11 seconds over the chase group. From there he consolidated his lead, riding the final laps alone to the rainbow jersey. Rouffiac finished in 1:17:20, with Andr\u00e9-Gallis taking silver nine seconds behind, and Halter bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Switzerland topped the medals table with five gold, five silver, and five bronze medals, followed by France (seven medals including three gold), and Austria (five medals including three gold).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Switzerland’s Sina Frei and Tom Pidcock of Great Britain won the Elite UCI world titles, after home rider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[98,458],"class_list":["post-15355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-cycling","tag-mountain-bike"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t