Swiss Cycling, the Valais Cycling Federation, Valais/Wallis Promotion (VWP) and several destinations from the canton submitted their bid to host the 2025 Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais on June 4, 2020. The plan is to organize the competitions in the seven disciplines of cross country, downhill, e-bike, enduro, marathon, pump track and short track within two weeks in several Valais destinations - combining the individual title competitions for the first time in the history of the Mountain Bike World Championships.

Switzerland is one of the leading mountain bike nations. In the supreme discipline of cross-country, it is number 1 in the national rankings for both women and men. International mountain bike title fights on Swiss soil move the masses and generate huge enthusiasm, as the cross-country and downhill world championships in Lenzerheide recently revealed. Valais, in turn, has everything it needs for the new format, says Thomas Peter. "Valais has excellent topographical conditions, first-class infrastructure and a lot of experience in staging mountain bike competitions. In view of this attractive package, I am optimistic that the UCI will decide in favor of holding the World Championships in Valais," says the Sports Director of Swiss Cycling.

A unifying, trans-regional and progressive project

The various destinations have shown great interest in the project and presented their concepts for organizing the competitions in less than a month. The panel of experts, consisting of representatives from Swiss Cycling, the Valais Cycling Federation and the canton of Valais as well as national coaches and mountain bike specialists, ultimately chose Crans-Montana (cross-country), the Dents du Midi region (downhill), Grächen (e-bike), Leukerbad (enduro), Verbier and Val d'Anniviers (marathon), Monthey (pump track) and Zermatt (short track). "The selection of the venues was based on criteria such as the existing infrastructure, experience in organizing competitions and other major events, project financing, the strategic orientation of the respective destination and, last but not least, the attractiveness for spectators," explains Steve Morabito, President of the Valais Cycling Federation. The temporal and spatial concentration on a single region opens up the unique opportunity to organize environmentally friendly competitions. These will not only offer unparalleled insights into the sport, but will also attract great interest from spectators, sponsors and the media.

Project management by the "Association CM MTB 2025"

The "Association CM MTB 2025", which is made up of representatives from the Valais Cycling Federation, VWP and Swiss Cycling, was founded for the overall management of the project, from the preparation of the bid documents to the organization of the World Championships. The selected destinations are also members of the association. The latter is also responsible for the joint activities of the local organizers, for example for coordinating the broadcasting of the competitions on Swiss TV stations and for uniform communication. The aforementioned venues will organize the competitions under its leadership. The total budget amounts to around ten million francs, which will be covered by the venues, public institutions and direct revenue.

The Valais - a mountain bike Eldorado

According to velosuisse, the association of Swiss bicycle suppliers, mountain bikes account for 39.6 percent of the total bicycle market. The demand for attractive routes, single trails, race tracks and corresponding events is also increasing. "Mountain biking is one of the key topics for the development of summer tourism - both in the lowlands and in the mountains. For many destinations, this sport is part of a strategic orientation that includes the development of offers with a high experience value and services at an international level," explains Raphaël Favre, Head of Business Development at VWP. Valais has a cantonal cycling/mountain biking strategy and has invested heavily in regional offers (covering several destinations) and infrastructure. Valais thus presents itself as the Swiss cycling destination. "Combining the seven disciplines in one region would open up new perspectives in the promotion of mountain biking for sport and tourism. This would be a decisive advantage with regard to the development of year-round tourism," says Valais State Councillor Frédéric Favre.

The selected destinations have told us how enthusiastic they would be about organizing the World Championships if the UCI were to choose Valais as the host region:
"Crans-Montana wants to be part of this project, which is supported by an entire canton. Focused on year-round tourism, we put mountain biking at the heart of our strategy. Thanks to Crans-Montana's extensive experience in organizing events, the cross-country event (XCO) could become a mountain bike festival comparable to the 2018 World Championships in Lenzerheide." Bruno Huggler, Director of Crans-Montana Tourism

"The Dents du Midi region already hosted the Downhill World Championships in Champéry in 2011. The course is still one of the most technically demanding and spectacular that has ever been ridden at the world championships. With its steep and fast sections, it left a lasting impression that left many spectators holding their breath. We are ready to repeat this adventure in 2025."
Sébastien Epiney, Director of the Région Dents du Midi

"Grächen already made a name for itself as a successful organizer in 2019 with the UCI MTB Marathon World Championships. With a homologated route network of 310 kilometers, Grächen offers ideal conditions for all mountain bike fans. The candidacy for the E-Mountainbike World Championships is a further sign of sustainable positioning as a mountain bike destination."
Berno Stoffel, CEO of the Grächen tourism company

"Leukerbad currently has around 130 km of marked mountain bike trails, while a second phase of homologation is underway as part of the development of the mountain bike offer. The focus of this expansion of the offer is particularly on enduro. The application for the organization of the Enduro "Trophy of Nations" is fully in line with our strategy."
David Caliesch, Marketing Director of My Leukerbad AG

"With an average of 3000 participants from 29 countries, the GRAND RAID BCVS is the most important mountain bike race in Europe's high mountains. It has established itself as the world's benchmark marathon race. It is obvious that the marathon world championship should take place on the route of this unique classic, which crosses six Alpine valleys between Verbier and Grimentz."
Michael Moret, Director of Anniviers Tourism

"The town of Monthey is strengthening its partnerships to expand its cycling offer. 2020 will be a milestone in the creation of cycling routes. With almost 8500 m2 of land available for this new infrastructure, the town of Monthey is predestined to host the pump track event."
Stéphane Coppey, Mayor of Monthey

"Cross Country Short Track (XCC) is an exciting and relatively new format of cross-country (XC) that has played an important role in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup since its introduction in early 2018, bringing together the best cross-country riders in one race. Zermatt would be delighted to host this exciting and spectator-friendly discipline at the foot of the Matterhorn."
Christian Ziörjen, Head of Destination Services Zermatt Tourism