UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Championship 2022

UCI: the top world competition for Mountain Bike racing in Downhill and Cross-country

One of the most anticipated mountain bike race series each year is the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, which also includes a World Championship.

These events take place across several continents, and in 2022 the 12 competitions will be held in Europe, North America and South America.

The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) mountain bike events bring together international racers in 3 disciplines: 

• Downhill
• Cross-country Short Track
• Cross-country Olympic

The excitement of Downhill draws the biggest crowds

The biggest buzz happens around the Downhill events, high-speed races down incredibly steep and tight trails.

But don't think that a Cross-country mountain bike competition is a walk in the park. The challenging course of ups and downs through mountain woods takes real endurance and stamina. 

The Cross-country Olympic competition is set by the standards for the Olympic events. (Cross-country is the only mountain bike discipline currently included in the Olympics.) This race involves doing laps around a mountain circuit of 2.5 to 6.0 miles (4-10 kms) that lasts about 90 minutes.

The Cross-country Short Track event is similar, only shorter - a circuit of shorter distance in a race that takes less time, about 20 to 25 minutes.

The Downhill race course is not a lap or circuit. It's just one gravity-pulled and treacherous run down a trail that most people would consider un-ridable. Thus the crowds that love to be there in person.

Last year's Downhill course - for the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Championship at Snowshoe Mountain in WV - was a gnarly 1.3 miles and over 1500 feet of elevation change. (Gnarly means a trail with chunky rocks and drop-off of up to 10 feet (3 meters), plus steep descents between trees and over exposed, slippery roots.) 

And the Mens' race winner came down in just 3 minutes and 10 seconds. The Downhill course always equates to lots of gravity making riders move dangerously fast.

Photo credit: JET

The 2022 UCI Mountain Bike event line-up

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup starts off this year in France on March 26 with just a Downhill event. Then three events in April and May will feature only Cross-country races, one each in Brazil, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The rest of the World Cup competitions will host both Downhill and Cross-country races at the same time. And for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championship event, on August 24-28, all riders will gather at Les Gets, France for the 2022 world titles.

If you're in the US, one of this year's World Cup events will be again at Snowshoe, WV, July 29-31.

Last year's final World Cup event and World Championships were held together at Snowshoe on a gorgeous week-end with spectacular riding. The Cannonball Adventure team was stoked to be there for that competition, and it did not disappoint.

We’ve been to this venue several times and highly recommend the riding, Village and in-person race experience you get at the Snowshoe Mountain Resort and Bike Park.

Calendar for UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Championship 2022

For all the dates and locations of this year's competitions, check out the calendar for the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and World Championship, below. 

And for all the events details, here's a link to the UCI website. 

• DHI = Downhill
• XCC = Cross-country Short Track
• XCO = Cross-country Olympic