The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of world cycling.
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.
Jeremiah Bishop is a professional mountain bike racer from the United States. He competes in ultra-endurance mountain bike racing, mountain bike stage racing, and the Olympic-discipline event of cross-country cycling.
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.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale. The first World Cup series – which was composed of cross-country events – was held in 1989. The Downhill World Cup was inaugurated two years later, and the Dual Slalom World Cup was launched in 1998. The dual-slalom format – which involved knock-out heats with two riders on the parallel courses in each heat – evolved into four-cross in 2002 before being dropped after the 2011 season. Riders win points according to their placing in each event. The reigning series leaders in each class are identified by a special jersey. The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is broadcast live and globally on Red Bull TV.
Greg "H-Ball" Herbold is an American former professional mountain bike racer. He competed in many forms of cycling including cross-country racing and Mountain bike trials but, was most notable for his downhill mountain bike racing career. Herbold was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1996.
KHS Bicycles is a bicycle manufacturer founded in 1974 with main operations in the United States and Taiwan. Its bicycles are distributed in over 30 countries. Although KHS' main focus has been in mountain bikes, it has offerings in road bikes, folding bikes, tandem bikes, cruiser bikes, single speed bikes and BMX bikes. Some of its products have been favorably reviewed.
Leigh Donovan is an American former professional downhill mountain bike racer and current cycling ambassador and women's mountain bike clinic instructor.
Greg Minnaar is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He currently competes in the Mountain Bike World Cup points series races, in the Elite Downhill event. Minnaar is currently the most prolific winner among male professional downhill mountain bike racers, with 23 world cup career victories. Sponsors: Santa Cruz, O’Neal, CLIF, and Shimano.
Georgia Gould is an American professional mountain bike, cyclocross competitor, and Olympian. She has earned five career national championships – four in cross-country mountain bike in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and one in short track mountain bike in 2009. In 2012, Gould won the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games in cross country mountain bike. From 2006-2016 Gould was employed by the LUNA Pro Team. She currently resides in East Burke, Vermont with her husband, Dusty LaBarr.
Four-cross (4X), also called mountain-cross, not to be confused with fourcross, is a relatively new style of mountain bike racing where four bikers race downhill on a prepared, BMX-like track, simply trying to get down first. These bikes are generally either full suspension with 140mm to 160mm of travel, or hardtails, and typically have relatively strong frames. They run a chainguide on front and gears on the back. They have slack head angles, short chainstays and low bottom brackets for good cornering and acceleration. In recent years the tracks raced on have been rougher and less like those used in BMX.
Bryn Atkinson is an Australian professional mountain bike racing cyclist from Townsville, QLD. He started mountain biking in 1996 and became a professional in 2002. Bryn's first introduction to the sport was through his local mountain bike club in Townsville- The Townsville Rockwheelers. Competing in several cross country type events, Bryn evolved with the sport and later found downhill. As a teenager, he moved north to Cairns, a popular location for downhill mountain biking, and host of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1996. Glen Jacobs was the course builder for that event and several other events on the World Cup, and mentored Bryn and several other downhillers in the area.
George David Atherton, known as Gee Atherton is a professional racing cyclist specializing in downhill and four cross mountain bike racing, and is a multiple national champion, multiple World Cup winner, and 2008 & 2014 Downhill World Champion. He is also a rally driver and competed in his first International event in 2017 at Wales Rally GB.
Daniel Simon Atherton, known as Dan Atherton, is a professional racing cyclist specialising in downhill, four cross and enduro-downhill mountain bike racing, and is a former national champion of Great Britain. He began riding BMX at the age of 15 and mountain biking a year later.
Rachel Laura Atherton is a British professional downhill mountain bike racer, and is a multiple time UCI World Champion.
Tracy Marie Moseley is a British professional racing cyclist who was born in Worcester, specialising in downhill mountain bike racing. Moseley's brother, Ed, was also a mountain biker, it was after he began riding cross country mountain bike races that a race was held on their farm in 1992; this was Tracy's first competition. Her first foray into downhilling came in 1994. Moseley's first international race was the World Championships in 1995 where she finished 8th. The following year she was funded by the Jason McRoy fund, to ride a French National event at Les Menuires. Moseley continued to race with increasing success, and despite sitting her exams late due to her racing schedule, graduated with a 2:1 degree in Biological Sciences in 2000.
Tara Janelle Llanes is a Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1990-1993. She became a champion Mountain Bike (MTB) racer. She later played wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball for Canada. Her surname is pronounced "Yaw-ness" but for obvious reasons it is often mispronounced "lanes" as in the type of division of a pathway.
Aaron Holmes Gwin is an American professional downhill mountain biker from Morongo Valley, California. He is a five-time World Cup overall champion.
Madison Saracen is a British-based UCI trade team, specialising in downhill mountain biking.
Hugo Donais is a Canadian retired cyclist who specialized in downhill mountain biking, four-cross and BMX.
