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There's 8 more wildcard team entries per race plus 3 more national cyling federation entries. Also pretty sure every single person you mentioned Rachel/Gwin/Amaurry can race if they wanted to given their status. Now I don't agree with some of the rules too, but at least try reading them?
You're right. I've only read the summary from the other site. It will all shake-out, I guess. And given that it's the first year, I hope there are significant exemptions for outstanding riders until people get settled. This is the only sport I follow...so I'm pretty passionate about fairness for the top riders, regardless of their team status.
I don't want to be a WB/Chis Ball/UCI apologist (you guys have already accused other users of being UCI plants in this thread), but can we compare the qualification criteria before the changes to what lawn dart and others are seemingly up in arms about now, in particular with reference to Rachel Atherton? Like, what was her path to race after a few years off under the previous system? Win a bunch of regional races and she's in? Functionally, is the current system harder than whatever she had to do before?
An other Les Gets World Cup confirmed for august 2025!
I think that is just confirming that the edr is the first weekend and dh is the second weekend. It was in the calendar as a two weekend block of racing.
imho 40 uci points to race?
There’s something that says “- Profile of any individual riders” as a qualification to race. That should cover Rachel, Gwin etc
It’s still problematic because afaik those profile characteristics aren’t defined so it’s basically what ESO decides…
The whole thing seems to me to be just asking for corruption to occur.
Well it's the UCI, so feature or a bug?
Coronet Peak live timing. 1st race in the continental series.
https://www.sportsplits.com/races/mtbnz-national-mtb-series-2025-dhi-ra…
Okay dang, that’s a solid field!
Lachie and Dunne going at it. Seems the speed is there already.
First Golden Tickets for world cup entry
M Elite
Ronan, Lachie, Tuhoto-Ariki, Ollie Davis, Sam Gale
W Elite
Jenna Hastings, Sacha Earnest, Bailey Goldstone, Kalani Muirhead
M Juniors,
Tyler Waite, Rory Meek, Oli Clark, Jonty Williamson, Malik Boatwright
W Juniors
Eliana Hulsebosch, Bellah Birchall, Roisin Mcguiness, Elleni Turkovic, Matilda Henness
Yess stoked for Sammie G. Would love to see him at the world cups.
So a load of pre qualified riders getting golden tickets - that worked well didn’t it to help lower ranked riders get to world cups!
Its better news than that.
Apparently theres a rolldown. Where if a rider getting a top 5 already has qualification through their Elite team, the spots roll down.
So from this one today (after the elite team status is finalised by UCI), elite men in 6th/7th/8th today (at a minimum) will end up Golden ticket spots. And some roll down in other categories too
Which rule number is that specified?
I'm not sure (what the rule number is). Was told this last week by our national federation who had sought clarification from UCI
Might be an amendment thats been made once potential scenarios were raised with them.
I just looked through the rulebook and nothing is stated about skipping over previously qualified racers to count so hopefully they amend the book to include that.
Funny/complain worthy things I noticed in the rules:
30th in Elite mens final at a world cup earns you 30 UCI World Series points but 31 UCI MTB DHI points, this is sure to make the math difficult for some things.
4.11.001 - Top five per category at a Continental race series finals is allow 1 golden ticket entry to a world cup, no specification of whether that's the next round or at rider's discretion. Sort of pointless as a junior if you're trying to make a run at racing world cups because you're only guaranteed one entry and from there you'd have to place in the top 100 UCI DHI rankings one month prior to the world cup you want to enter in order to qualify. This position is currently held by Kirk McDowall with 139 points and it appears that elite and juniors get ranked on the same table. For Elite men it's even stricter, requiring you to be top 50, which if you're not already scoring points at world cups, is basically impossible considering that the top scoring points at continental series will likely be taken by top world cup performers like we saw in NZ this weekend.
Same rule - The top 5 overall season racers in the continental series will be able to enter all the world cups the following year. This even applies to Juniors moving up to elite AND u15 moving to juniors. This seems the most feasible route but assuming most of the continental rounds are attended similarly to the NZ round it could prove very difficult to get a top 5 overall if you're not already at the top of the world cup.
4.11.019 - Only racers registered to a world series team can earn points for their team. I take this to mean a team like Rogue Racing with Thibault Daprela could in theory become the highest ranking team at the end of the year but it wouldn't count as they are not a World Series Team. Making it impossible for an underdog team (Union, Pinkbike Racing, etc. type teams) to win the team championship or be able to guarantee their placement on the start list for the next year.
It also seems that UCI MTB World Series Teams will not be changing at all for the coming years with the top 10 being offered a 2 year contract and 11-15th earning a 1 year contract after this season. Wild Card teams will be the only way a team can enter going forward with rider changes not mattering like this year.
It's still possible to be a top UCI ranked rider and have guaranteed qualification to enter world cups with the ability to compete in far flung locations as current 36th UCI DHI ranked rider is Methasit BOONSANE from Thailand and there are actually a total of 4 guys in the top 50 which are not world cup attendees.
https://www.uci.org/discipline/mountain-bike/4LArSj7CKcytMrGEDtKwkb?tab…
Far as I'm aware the rolldown isn't clearly in any of the official docs (yet ?) but that was the answer given at least as far as the impact of UCI World Series Team riders go, unsure about if they skip over riders who meet the other qualifying criteria, but given that is so in flux across the year I suspect not.
There is still an outstanding question if a single rider is allowed to acquire multiple golden tickets, though they'd still have to use them within 2025 season. But from everything I've seen, it is up to the rider to pick which race to use it for, subject to any field size limit they decide to impose.
Golden Ticket riders can also ride in their own kit which seems like a good move too.
Regarding the general tightening of entry criteria for world cup, Junior DH does stick out when you look at the number of National Federation entries allowed, down to 4 M&W from 6 plus ability to enter another 6. Though for both that and senior, it is feasible you could have a rider plan a campaign mix & match a golden ticket and do a few more if they get a federation entry.
@adamdigby when you mention NZ Coronet Peak attendance, I think it is a case where it's a bit out of proportions as a lot of the WC guys are in the south to train. Over the summer they will focus on the world cup leaving continental series a bit less crowded I'd say. I'd expect some here or there picking up additional points, but not an all out world cup attendance.
So if the talk of golden tickets rolling down is correct and they can go to riders from outside of the location of the continental races won't this put Antipodean racers at a disadvantage as their races are in the off season and likely to attract more riders from the Northern Hemisphere?
Hold my fondue skewer...
But how that is worded it just basically says if you are on a uci team you can’t become qualified to race thru the continental series but you are allowed to race them. It does not clarify who gets a qualification if those spots are taken by someone who is on a uci team or is already qualified on other grounds.
It reads like a rulebook directly translated from French. Read in the original French text it would imply that someone from a world series team cannot take the place of a golden ticket contender.
From the EN versions of the amended regulation (for 2025):
Pity we're turning into a popularity/entertainment contest instead of just the fastest riders giving it their all.
That's not the same document. I dl'ed from a direct link that @point1athletic stuck up on Instagram a few days ago.
Here, have some hastily cropped screen shots of the pdf.
So, if I understood this right, PFR can pretty much just be BK + Jenna, right? They're both top 50 UCI in their categories...
minnaar on moving the needle podcast
Registration fees for the first round at Coronet were $140 NZD. (About 79 Euro.) It is supposed to be limited to 50 Euro according to this.
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