Seeing a road racer like Tom Pidcock on a bike with knobby tires and suspension has become somewhat common at World Cup races. And Pidcock does well. At the 2026 World Cup Championships in Val di Sole, the professional road racer took home the rainbow jersey, the second time he has held the XCO World Champ title (previously in 2023).
But he is a bit of an outlier. Aside from Pidcock, only a few other roadies are notable cross-discipline racers. But a new UCI rule that awards roadie teams might change that. Under the new rule, a road racer can earn UCI points for their road team by winning mountain biking World Cup events.
A new UCI points rule
The rule was announced in a 2025 UCI press release, which read, in part, that “a new points system allowing road teams to benefit from a certain number of points based on the results obtained by their riders when they participate in events in other disciplines will be introduced from the 2027 season onwards.”
At the time, the brief mention didn’t specify which “other disciplines” were being referred to or how many points riders would receive. Those details came over a year later, in a UCI document that I could only find in French. Fortunately, AI translated it, confirming the major details.
First, for mountain biking, the new points rule applies only to cross-country Olympic (XCO) events. To be clear, the rule also applies to other UCI cycling disciplines — cyclo-cross, gravel, and track racing. But since we are a mountain biking publication, our focus is primarily on the mountain biking implications.
You earn extra points in two ways. First, if you snag a World Championship title as Pidcock did, your road team gets an extra 300 points. That said, simply being chosen to participate in the XCO World Champs earns extra points: second place is worth 250, third is 215, fourth is 175, and so on. Even a 30th-place finish will still earn a road team an extra 12 points.
The other way to earn a fair number of points is much harder than winning a single race. Under the new UCI points rule, the XCO World Cup overall winner receives 200 points. A diminishing scale follows: 150 for second, 125 for third, 100 for fourth, and so on. This, of course, is a much bigger ask, as a racer would need to commit to and perform well at every XCO World Cup stop throughout the season.
Some caveats to the rule
The new rule not only encourages road racers to pursue other cycling disciplines, but it now also incentivizes them. Where people like Pidcock once did it for the love of mountain biking (I’m sure it wasn’t only for the multiple World Cup wins he racked up), now have an incentive that can impact their road team. These extra points could help teams — especially those ranked a bit lower — get invites to certain major road race events. The extra points go to the road team, not the individual racer’s road ranking.
So, will road teams start looking for MTB specialists to gain bonus points? Not likely. Another rule is that any road racer competing in a mountain biking World Cup or World Championship race must be a top racer on their road team for the bonus points to apply. Men need to be in the top 20 on their team. For women, they need to be in the top eight.
Perhaps it will put more money toward mountain biking?
Maybe. Road racing teams have some of the biggest budgets in the world, and it would be nice to see some of those finances go toward mountain biking. Cannondale, Lapierre, and, most recently, BMC all shut down their XC race teams. While it might be too late for those programs, a little extra roadie money could help others on the cusp, trying to stay afloat.
Pidcock’s Pinarello sponsor doesn’t have a dedicated World Cup mountain-biking team. Still, we can expect to see Pidcock at future XCO World Cup races, now with perhaps a bit more incentive to win something like the XCO overall title.
Mathieu van der Poel is another to watch. He is already a gravel, cyclocross, and road World Champion, and he’s likely looking to add a mountain-biking title. For women, we can expect more from Puck Pieterse on the Fenix-Premier Tech team. Pieterse already has seven World Cup XCO wins to match her seven XCC wins and now has a new Fenix-Premier teammate in Jolanda Neff.
The 2027 World Cup schedule has one less race than 2026
Yesterday, the UCI released the 2027 World Cup race calendar. Quite a few of the usual suspects made the list, with most races taking place in Europe.
One notable change this year is a contraction in the number of locations where races will be held. In 2026, the downhill and cross-country World Cup races were held in 11 different locations. This year, it’s ten, which means one fewer race. Not only that, the World Championships are set to be held in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc, France, in late August, following a regular-season race there in June. Including World Champs, there were 12 unique stops on last year’s UCI mountain bike circuit compared to ten this year.
2027 World Cup XC racing schedule
May 21-23: Nové Město Na Moravě, Czechia
June 11-13: Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland, Austria
June 18-20: Les Gets, Haute-Savoie Mont Blanc, France
July 2-4: La Thuile, Valle d’Aosta, Italy
July 9-11: Pal Arinsal, Andorra
August 20-22: Bike Kingdom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland
September 10-12: Val di Sole, Trentino, Italy
September 25-26: Soldier Hollow, Midway, Utah, USA
World Cup downhill racing shares six of the XC stops, excluding Nové Město Na Moravě, Czechia, and Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. The DH series includes two stops on its own: Loudenvielle and Whistler.
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