The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
Filip Meirhaeghe is a retired Belgian racing cyclist. His primary focus was in mountain bike racing, however, he has also taken part in elite road, cyclo-cross and track cycling. He has won four Mountain Bike World Championships medals, one Olympic medal and a total of eleven mountain bike World Cup events. In the final years of his racing career he raced for the bicycle manufacturer Specialized Bicycle Components on the mountain bike and for the professional team Domina Vacanze-Elitron on the road.
John Tomac is an American former professional cyclist who competed from 1985 to 2005. He was a versatile rider who competed in multiple disciplines including; BMX racing, cross-country, road racing, trials riding and downhill racing. Tomac became a mountain bike racing icon in the late 1980s as the sport began to develop beyond its formative years. At the time of his retirement in 2005, he had won more mountain bike races than anyone in the sport. In 1991 he was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and, in 2004 he was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.
Jukka Vastaranta is a Finnish professional cyclist from Tampere. From 2003 to 2006 he rode for the Dutch team Rabobank but in 2007 he switched to the Belgian continental team Jartazi–Promo Fashion. In 2008 he rode for the mountain bike team Brink-Ten Tusscher, but after a good start had to retire again due to prolonged health problems.
Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.
Eric Robert Carter, is a former American professional "Old/Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1983 to 1998. He had the nickname "The Golden Child," and later in his BMX career, acquired the moniker "The Earthquake." More recently, he has been known simply as "EC." Beginning in 1996, he converted fully to mountain bike racing (MTB) and has become one of the most respected racers in that discipline of bicycle racing.
Simon Crafar is a New Zealand former Grand Prix and WSBK motorcycle road racer.
Sanne Cant is a Belgian racing cyclist, who currently competes in cyclo-cross for UCI Cyclo-cross Team IKO–Crelan, and in road cycling for UCI Women's Continental Team Fenix–Deceuninck. Cant's cousin Loes Sels is also a professional cyclist.
Kris Gemmell is a New Zealand triathlete, and 2002 World Aquathon Champion in Cancún, Mexico. He has also competed in the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games finishing 6th and 5th respectively.
Thijs Joris Al is a Dutch cyclist specializing in competitive mountain biking and cyclo-cross. Al rode his first mountain bike race in 1995.
Sharon Laws was a British professional cyclist and environmental consultant.
Nino Schurter is a Swiss cross-country cyclist who races for the Scott–Sram MTB Racing Team.
Jeremy Powers is an American former professional racing cyclist, who took over 90 UCI victories, four USA Cyclocross national championships, and the 2015 Pan American Championship during his career. He was a presenter for the Global Cycling Network before joining WHOOP.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Mountain Bike team Ineos Grenadiers in cross-country cycling. Ferrand-Prévot has also competed in road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross during her career, winning the world title in each discipline. During the 2015 season, aged just 23, she became the first person ever – in the history of cycling – to simultaneously hold the World road title, World cyclo-cross title and World cross-country mountain bike title.
The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) is an American non-profit organization that promotes youth mountain biking programs in the United States. NICA provides governance, leadership, and program support to regional interscholastic mountain biking organizations. NICA's mission is to build "strong minds, bodies, character, and communities through cycling, where every youth is empowered to be part of a thriving and engaged cycling community."
Tereza Huříková is a Czech professional road cyclist and mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Czech national championship titles in women's cross-country, road races and time trial, and more importantly, a prestigious gold medal in the junior time trial at the 2004 UCI World Championships. Huříková later represented the Czech Republic, as a 20-year-old junior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode for USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo and Česká Spořitelna MTB Cycling Teams since she turned professional in 2006. Currently, Huříková trains and races under an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract for Germany's Central Haibike Pro Team, along with her teammate and 2008 Olympic champion Sabine Spitz.
Roel Paulissen is a Belgian former professional mountain biker. Throughout his sporting career since 1993, he has won more than ten Belgian national championship titles, mounted top-five finishes at both the European and World Cup series, and claimed a total of four medals, including two golds, in men's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Paulissen also represented his nation Belgium in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking since it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. By the start of the 2010 season, Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for clomiphene that sidelined and effectively ended his mountain biking career. Having lifted a two-year suspension from doping in early 2013, Paulissen came out from his short retirement to join and race professionally for the Italian team Torpado.
Thomas Pidcock is an English cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.
Christopher Blevins is an American cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Mountain Bike Team Specialized Factory Racing. Specializing in cross-country mountain biking, Blevins has also previously competed in road cycling and cyclo-cross, before choosing to solely focus on mountain biking in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Gravel cycling, gravel biking or gravel grinding is a sport, or a leisure activity, invented by Alfredo Pasin and Ilenia Lazzaro, in which participants ride bicycles mostly on gravel roads. Sometimes, specially designed gravel bikes are used; in other cases, any bicycle capable of covering the terrain can be used.
