There are over 25 kiwi mountain bikers contracted with professional teams, and a bunch of other individuals who have secured starts as the UCI MTB World Series pedals into action in the sport’s spiritual home of Europe next weekend.
With World Series starts restricted this year, the record numbers of kiwis in pro teams marks the growing reputation of New Zealand riders across all MTB disciplines of downhill, cross-country and enduro.
After two rounds of cross-country in Brazil, the European rounds get underway next weekend with Enduro competition at Pietra Ligure, Finale in Italy.
It is the first of five straight weekends of UCI MTB World Series competition, with downhill and enduro on 16-18 May in Poland; cross-country in Czechia 23-25 May; downhill and enduro in France on 30 May-1 June; and all three disciplines together in Austria on 5-8 June.
The European rounds of the world series finish in late September after the world championships in Switzerland with XCO and DH competitions concluding across the Atlantic with two rounds in Lake Placid, USA and Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada in October.
Olympic top-10 finishers Sam Gaze (Alpecin Fenix) and Sammie Maxwell (Decathlon Ford), who tops the XCO elite rankings after brilliant results in Brazil, will both push for strong results. There is also interest in nine-time national champion Anton Cooper (Lapierre Racing Unity) who returns after a year out of the sport with illness.
The kiwis in enduro are led by world no 3 Charlie Murray (Specialised Gravity), the massively talented rider from Christchurch. He is joined in the Specialised Gravity team by exciting young Cantabrian, Winni Goldsbury, who won two rounds of the junior enduro world cup last year before injury ended her season prematurely.
The kiwi gravity fraternity is arguably the strongest ever across all divisions, led by double junior world champion Erice van Leuven, now with Norco Factory Racing, although a serious crash in Tasmania pre-season leaves her out of action for much, if not all the season.
Double junior world championship medallist, Sacha Earnest (Trek Factory) moves to the elite division to join multi-national champion Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory), with the pair plus former junior world champion Jenna Hastings (Pivot Factory), all ranked in the top-20 in the world.
There is anticipation in elite men’s downhill with Rotorua 21-year-old, Lachlan Stevens-McNab (Trek Factory Racing) ranked seventh in the world, the highest ranked kiwi gravity rider for several years.
The junior men’s group is led by Luke Wayman (Christchurch), ranked second in the world, who joins the exciting Continental Atherton team this year.
Hawkes Bay’s exciting Tyler Waite, picked up by the crack Yeti-Fox Factory team, and Kaikoura’s Oli Clark, signed by MS Factory, were 12th and 13th respectively in the end of year rankings.
With van Leuven and Earnest in the elite ranks, watch for Tauranga’s super-exciting Eliana Hulsebosch to shine, especially as she has been signed by the white-hot Santa Cruz Syndicate team led by Steve Peat and includes 2024 junior world champion Jackson Goldstone.
Two young kiwi talents have earned opportunities among five wildcard feeder teams introduced by the UCI for the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series from next month. Team High Country, an Australian-run team promoting emerging Oceania riders, includes two promising kiwi gravity riders from the NZ MTB Academy in Queenstown’s Malik Boatwright and Rotorua’s Bellah Birchall.
Attention moves to the opening European stop on the Whoop UCI MTB World Series for opening round of the Enduro series in the Finale Outdoor Region of Italy next weekend.