MTB enduro: UCI Worlds at Finale Ligure, Enduro United looms

Mountain bike enduro is at a turning point this weekend. The UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships run from 16 to 18 October 2026 in Finale Ligure, Italy, just as the Enduro World Cup finishes its final season in its current form and two projects position themselves for what comes next.

Enduro Worlds at Finale Ligure: six titles at stake

The UCI and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports awarded the third edition of the Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships to Finale Ligure. Six titles are up for grabs:

• elite enduro, men and women;
• junior enduro, men and women;
• e-enduro, men and women.

The first two editions took place in 2024 in Val di Fassa (Italy) and in 2025 in Valais (Switzerland), as part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Finale Ligure is no stranger to the discipline: the region has hosted enduro events since the first Finalenduro in 2008, including rounds of the Enduro World Series and the Enduro World Cup, alternating with Pietra Ligure. It claims more than 200 trails.

The Enduro World Cup comes to an end

On 19 August 2026, the UCI and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports announced that the 2026 season would be the last of the Enduro World Cup in its current form. Launched in 2013 as the Enduro World Series, the competition ran for ten seasons under that name, then four seasons as a UCI World Cup. The World Championships carry on: enduro and e-enduro are part of the 2027 UCI World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc, France.

Crankworx and Enduro United: two series for what follows

The day after the announcement, Crankworx revealed it would launch a global enduro series from 2027. According to a rider quoted by Bike Magazin, Whistler is confirmed as a destination, but calendar details are still to come.

A second project has now surfaced: Enduro United, led by figures including Enrico Guala, Ludovic Henry, Alex Balaud and Adrian Greiner. It is preparing the Enduro MTB World Tour, a World Cup-level circuit aimed at Europe and North America, which aims to become the exclusive route to the UCI Enduro World Championships. Alex Balaud is targeting a draft calendar before the end of November, and the group is still looking for funding partners.

What remains unclear

• World Tour events would reportedly be ranked C1 by the UCI, against C3 for Crankworx: this remains to be confirmed.
• Only five UCI enduro teams were registered in 2026, and the sponsorship market is seen as narrow.
• No rapprochement between the two camps has been reached, and their calendars could overlap.

The coming days will show who stands on the podiums at Finale Ligure; the coming weeks, how enduro will be organised in 2027.