Mitterwallner and Flückiger dig deep to triumph in Andorran epic

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports can confirm that 14 wildcard teams (eight cross-country and six downhill) have been selected for round 14 of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland), presented by Le Gruyère, on September 18-21. While all six teams that applied for a downhill spot secured a wildcard, it was another competitive selection process in cross-country, with only eight of the 19 applicants selected. The majority of qualifying teams have already featured in the 2025 series, but there will be a first appearance for Swiss Endurance outfit Thömus Akros - Youngstars. The nine-strong cross-country team is the development arm of WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team Thömus Maxon and has a strong focus on supporting the future stars of Swiss cross-country mountain biking. A number of its riders have already lit up this year’s WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series too, having qualified based on their UCI ranking points. Monique Halter has recorded two second place finishes in the Under 23 UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup, most recently in Pal Arinsal (Andorra), and sits in 10th place in the overall series standings, while her younger brother Nicolas Halter has also recorded two podium finishes this year to find himself in eighth. Elsewhere, Lexware Mountainbike Team is the only Endurance team to continue its 100% wildcard qualification record, while Goodman Santacruz, Rogue Racing - SR Suntour, Team High Country and Kenda NS Bikes UR Team do the same in downhill. As we enter the final three rounds of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, there will start to be greater focus on teams’ UCI points (a combination of the four highest scoring team riders’ points) which determine whether a team is offered UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status for two years (teams ranked 1-10) or one year (teams ranked 11-15). At the time of writing, BIXS Performance Race Team occupies 12th place in the Endurance teams rankings and would therefore earn itself UCI Mountain Bike World Series Team status for 2026. The 14 wildcard teams for round 14 of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide are: UCI Cross-country World Cup: BIXS Performance Race Team Bike Team Solothurn Lexware Mountainbike Team KTM Factory MTB Team Thömus Akros - Youngstars Cabtech Racing Team Trek Future Racing Massi UCI Downhill World Cup: Kenda NS Bikes UR Team Rogue Racing - SR Suntour Goodman Santacruz Team High Country Future Frameworks The Alliance

The Swiss UCI World Cup round will be the record-breaker's last after 17 seasons.  Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) has announced that he will be lining up at a UCI World Cup for the last time in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland) on September 19 and 21.  The 39-year-old shared his retirement news on a post on social media, adding “it’s been one hell of a ride”.  In the video, Nino Schurter said: “Dear mountain bike family and beyond. For the past two decades, I've given my body, my mind and my soul to mountain biking. A beautiful sport, but also brutal at pro level. You either win races, you are a contender, or you're gone. There's no place for passengers. It's all or nothing. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “When I raced my first World Championships, I was just a kid chasing a dream in Lugano 2003 and I left with my first international medal. What I didn't know then: that dream would carry me through countless unforgettable moments and let me win more than half of all of those championships along the way. “It's been one hell of a ride. But now it's time. Time to let my mind breathe and to spend more moments with the people who have supported me through it all. This year gives me the perfect goodbye. Crans-Montana will be my final XCO World Championships and Lenzerheide, my favourite race, will be my last World Cup. Two home races. I couldn't have scripted it better. “I want to thank everyone of you teammates, competitors, fans and the entire mountain bike community. You made this journey unforgettable. You were the reason I pushed harder. And you were the magic behind the medals. “I'm not disappearing. I'll still be riding, even racing (just not between the World Cup tape) and diving into new projects I can't wait to share soon. But for now, I'm giving it everything one last time. See you in Crans-Montana. See you in Lenzerheide. Let's make it legendary.” The Swiss rider is widely regarded as the greatest of all time, claiming 10 UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Championships, nine UCI XCO World Cup overall titles, 36 UCI XCO World Cups and bronze, silver and gold medals at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 respectively.  Not only will Lenzerheide give him a home send-off on his record-extending 132nd UCI XCO World Cup start, but with three wins at the venue (2016, 2017 and 2023), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Schurter going out at the top with win number 37 – another record. The retiring star added: “I’m incredibly thankful for everything I achieved in my life as a professional mountain bike racer. Now it's time to take all this experience into a new chapter of my life. I'm sure what comes from here is going to be just as exciting. Yes, I'm saying goodbye to cross-country World Cup racing but I will remain in the exciting world of cycling with all the great people involved.” We wish Nino the best in retirement from the UCI World Cup race tape!

Reigning UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Champion to compete in penultimate European round of 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has confirmed that she will be competing at the next UCI Cross-country World Cup in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie (France) later this month.  The 23-year-old has been a dominant force in the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series since her first off-road race of the season at round three in Nové Město Na Moravě (Czechia), winning five out of the eight races that she’s entered. In that time, she has secured a UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) win in Nové Město Na Moravě, and two XCO-XCC doubles in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria) and Val di Sole - Trentino (Italy). She didn’t manage to repeat that feat in her most recent performances in Pal Arinsal (Andorra) but still secured fourth and 10th in the XCC and XCO, respectively. The multi-discipline rider switched her attention to the road in July, where she led Women’s WorldTour team Fenix-Alpecin at her second Le Tour de France Femmes. She had a strong race and was in the top 10 with two days to go, although lost time as the race entered the mountains and slipping down the general classification leaderboard to finish 24th, 49’17” down on the winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot – the mountain bike legend and Paris 2024 Olympic champion making the switch to road in the off-season and winning the sport’s biggest race at her first attempt. Pieterse will stay in France to compete at round 13 of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie, although she is yet to confirm if she will line-up at the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais (Switzerland) or in the series’ final three rounds in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland), Lake Placid (USA) and Mont-Sainte-Anne (Canada). Pieterse, who sits fifth in the XCO rankings and fourth in the XCC, will have fond memories of Les Gets, Haute-Savoie, and hasn’t finished outside the top two at the venue in her two previous Elite UCI World Cups – winning 2023’s XCC and 2024’s XCO.