Sion, 14 Septembre 2023. In 2025, the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships will mark the history of mountain biking in Valais. On Thursday morning, with exactly two years to go until the event, the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Association (Valais 2025) gave a progress report on the project. In particular, it unveiled Aletsch Arena/Bellwald as a new official host destination. It will host the enduro competitions. Leukerbad is bidding to take over the E-mountain bike. Valais 2025 also announced the 2024 calendar and gave an initial assessment of the legacy projects.
The Valais is actively preparing to host the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which will bring together seven disciplines for the first time. This prestigious competition will help to position the Valais as a mountain bike destination of international renown.
Here's what's new for 2025 : Leukerbad is bidding to take over the E-mountain bike competitions. Requests for authorisation are currently underway. The UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Championships will be organised by Aletsch Arena/Bellwald. This venue is the ideal playing field for a major challenge for the athletes in this discipline. Philippe Sproll, Director of Aletsch Arena, is delighted with this announcement : "We are delighted to be able to join in the organisation of this major event and to announce a UCI World Cup event in 2024. Organising these events is in line with our destination's strategy of developing the mountain bike product, and the enduro routes currently in the process of being approved will delight the world's elite in the discipline."
2024 : a year dedicated to cycling.
Valais is gearing up for an exceptional year in 2024, with a sporting calendar packed with mountain bike events featuring several international-level races, including a round of the UCI Mountain Bike Cross Country Olympic World Cup and a round of the UCI Mountain Bike Short Track World Cup in Crans-Montana, a UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup round at the Aletsch Arena/Bellwald, the UEC Mountain Bike Downhill European Championships in Champéry, the Grand Raid - Swiss Mountain Bike Race Marathon between Verbier and Grimentz and a Velosolutions UCI Pump Track World Championships Switzerland Qualifier in Monthey. Julien Hess, Director of Valais 2025, is looking forward to it : "In 2024, Valais and Switzerland will already be in the spotlight with major cycling competitions that will enable the various destinations involved in the project to present themselves and prepare optimally for 2025". At the same time, Zurich will host the UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships in September 2024. "Switzerland will thus be the capital of world cycling for two consecutive years," says Julien Hess with delight.
A shared commitment to a sustainable event.
The year 2023 has already been used to start building a sustainable cycling legacy for the canton. Steve Morabito, President of Valais 2025 and the Valais Cycling Federation, takes a positive view of this first year : "We have focused our projects on three pillars: youth, young riders and women. The initial results are very satisfactory. We are going to continue our efforts between now and 2025, and even beyond, to build a lasting legacy and share our passion for two-wheelers with as many people as possible. In concrete terms, 1,550 students from 25 different schools benefited from cycling awareness courses. 58 athletes were supported by the Cycling Academy Valais 2025 and 31 women took part in the Women's Bike Park Session in Bellwald organised by Valais 2025.
With sustainability in mind, the host destinations signed a charter attesting to their commitment to an event that is economically, ecologically and socially sustainable. All these initiatives confirm the Valais' ongoing commitment to the development of mountain biking and the desire to promote the region as a benchmark destination.
Calendar of cycling competitions 2024.
- 21-23.06.2024 : UCI Mountain Bike Cross Country Olympic World Cup + UCI Mountain Bike Short Track World Cup in Crans-Montana
- 12-14.07.2024 : UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup in Aletsch Arena/Bellwald
- 09-11.08.2024 : UEC Mountain Bike Downhill European Championships in Champéry
- 23-24.08.2024 : Grand Raid - Swiss Mountain Bike Race Marathon Verbier-Grimentz
- 21-29.09.2024 : UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships 2024 in Zurich
- Velosolutions UCI Pump Track World Championships Switzerland Qualifier + Pump Track Valais/Wallis final in Monthey (date tbc)
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