This year’s Jura Bike Marathon offered thrilling mountain biking action and decisive moments at key points in the Vaud Jura along its challenging 71-kilometer loop with approximately 2,800 meters of elevation gain. The heart of the course—the infamous, extremely steep push section up to the Dent de Vaulion—at 1,482 meters above sea level the main obstacle of the loop—once again proved to be the deciding factor between victory and defeat.

At the iXS European Downhill Cup in Fort William, rain turned the course into a mud bath, with Harriet Harnden and Charlie Hatton emerging as the winners. Hatton repeated his victory from last year, while junior Nathan De Vaux rode a time good enough for an elite podium finish. Justine Welzel and Lenny Gäng rode to 8th and 16th place, while Marius Krähenbühl was the top Swiss rider in 11th place.

The Aletsch Arena invited top athletes from the national and international racing scenes to the Enduro Invitational. Wet, slippery trails turned the riders-only race into a true test of form ahead of the World Cup opener—no show, no audience, but with an official ranking. The winner was Tristan Botteram of the Netherlands, ahead of Urien Minuty (CH) and Max Pfeil (DE); in the women’s race, Winni Goldsburry (NZ) took the win ahead of Franca Rudolf and Malin Emily Hoyle (both CH).

At the Bike the Rock 2026 mountain bike festival in Heubach, France’s Adrien Boichis and Germany’s Nina Graf won the UCI HC elite races. Boichis finished ahead of Julian Schelb and Maximilian Brandl (both GER), while Graf finished ahead of Rebecca Henderson (AUS) and Alessandra Keller (SUI).