Fans of the mountain bike World Cup may have to pay to watch the racing in 2023, with much of the action disappearing behind a paywall for the first time.
This summer, the Mountain Bike World Series – as it’s now known – including the XCO (cross-country), DHI (downhill) and enduro racing, will go out live and on-demand on Discovery+, via Eurosport’s app or on GCN+; all services that require a subscription. Previously fans could watch live racing, full replays and highlights packages via Red Bull TV.
ESO (Enduro Sports Organisation), which will run many of the events, has said there will be more broadcast options to come however, so not everything will be behind a paywall. We don’t have any details yet on which elements of the racing will be paid for and which will be gratis, but our guess is that the premier events like World Cup finals will be pay to view.
The news comes after the biggest shakeup in the history of the sport, with the announcement in 2022 that Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) would be taking over the broadcasting rights from Red Bull. Enduro is also joining the World Cup ranks, ditching its EWS moniker and now termed the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Cup, or EDR for short.
To help justify the new paywall, the UCI does promise “more live coverage and more ways to follow [the] racing,” it said in a press release. “UCI World Cup XCO, XCC and DHI events from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be available live and on-demand.”
Rather confusingly, although elite enduro racing is no longer known as the Enduro World Series, the new format is to be known as the UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
A subscription to Discovery+ currently costs £6.99 a month for the upgraded Entertainment and Sport package you’ll need, or £59.99 a year, and Eurosport is priced the same. Signing up to GCN+ will set you back £6.99 a month, or £39.99 a year. The World Series calendar runs for eight months this year, from March until October, so to watch all the off-road racing you’re better off signing up for a whole year.
What we know so far
As yet we still have little idea just how the racing will be organised or details of the live or pre-recorded covered.
What we do know is that Enduro racing will now be a one-day only affair. Rather than using cumulative time, the EDR sees the introduction of a points-based system, with riders accumulating points on each timed Special Stage. Accumulated points over the stages will determine the running order for the last Special Stage of the race day, with the rider with the greatest number of points setting off last.
Meanwhile, e-mountain bike enduro, which will be classified as E-EDR, also joins the World Cup circuit and will be run along similar lines to the EDR, but with several changes such as the inclusion of a technical climb or climbs.
The UCI Downhill World Cup also gets a significant shake up, including changes to the numbers of qualifying riders, and the introduction of a semi-final event also to be broadcast.
Cross-country, downhill and enduro come together for the new UCI Mountain Bike World Series
Each downhill round will see a semi-final event taking place between qualifying runs and the final. The men’s semi final will include the top 60 Elite Men and top 15 Elite Women from qualifying, and will give more riders the opportunity to be featured on a live broadcast.
The Elite final will now feature the top 30 men and the top 10 women, which is again to be broadcast; the “goal is to broadcast each of the 40 runs in their entirety live,” according to the ESO. How that promise is fulfilled, whether through additional static cameras, drones or rider-mounted POV cameras, remains to be seen.
It also seems like a decrease in opportunities for women in downhill, with only 10 women progressing from qualifiers to the final, down from 20 in 2022. We’d like to see the organisers revisit this if and when the women’s field strengthens and expands, especially with the introduction of a junior women category for downhill.
Up-and-coming riders from a number of disciplines will also get a boost in the shakeup.
The Cross-country Short Track (XCC) event will now get an U23 (under 23) category.
In Downhill, Junior Women will finally get their own qualifying run, with the fastest 10 junior women proceeding to their final. And, for the first time, both the Women Junior and Men Junior competitions – by which we assume the finals – will be broadcast.
What we don’t know
Plenty. We know the bare bones of the World Cup for 2023 and onwards, such as the venues and dates. The rest seems pretty up in the air. We also know from sources that the riders themselves weren’t consulted on the changes, which could be a mistake.
We’re not sure what we’ll be able to watch or when. Whether we’ll be able to watch the downhill semi-finals live or as a pre-recorded package is unclear, all ESO can say is the event will be “broadcast”.
We also don’t know what the changes mean for content creators outside of WBD; there’s a big cottage industry of YouTubers – teams, brands, riders, privateers and media companies – all pumping out content around World Cup events, some of it pretty decent too like Bernard Kerr’s LSD channel. We’d hate to see that disappear.