The Uphill Battle To World Cup Qualification | Australian privateers getting it done

The journey to qualify for Enduro and Downhill World Cups demands relentless determination, passion, and significant personal sacrifice, whether it’s taking time off work or being away from family and friends. On top of that, there’s a hefty financial burden, especially for riders travelling from outside of Europe.

Over the past few years, there have been many changes to what is now dubbed the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, ranging from venues to the way you watch live and even changes to the racing format.

When the changeover happened, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series claimed it would also provide opportunities for amateurs and those seeking to break into the Elite ranks.

“Amateur XCM, EDR, and E-EDR racing at some events will enable amateurs to compete alongside their sporting heroes while providing a clear pathway to the highest level of the sport for aspiring athletes in the quest of qualifying points to progress into the Elite ranks,” the press materials said.

But despite all this, the pathway to elite racing for up-and-coming riders is anything but clear and concise, and it’s seemingly become more difficult to break into the gravity categories.

Following the pathway

The UCI has tried to improve the pathway to the Elite ranks of the Enduro World Cup. However, achieving these benchmarks isn’t so clear-cut.

According to the UCI,  in 2024 riders can qualify by being part of an Official UCI Enduro or Mixed Team, carrying over the minimum required Global Ranking Points earned before the end of 2023, attaining the minimum number of points to upgrade throughout the 2024 season or snagging a Wildcard spot.

How do you earn a Wildcard spot in 2024 you ask? We’d love to tell you, but the link to the Wildcard application is dead, and the only mention in the UCI Rulebook says, “Wildcards are now closed for 2024. Please follow the qualification route to qualify for mid-season.”

Looking to last year’s rules, Wildcard spots are for riders that have had outstanding results (whether in enduro or other cycling disciplines) but did not secure a spot on the EDR Reserve Entry List.

This year, the qualifying points requirements for an Enduro World Cup are:

• Men 125 points
• Women 125 points
• Men U21 75 points
• Women U21 50 points

Riders must compete in official World Cup qualifying races, which are national championship races and open World Cup events, to gain these points. For those aiming to gain points at a national champs event, the national designation on your racing licence must match the host nation to earn points. So an Aussie racer couldn’t jump over to race the NZ National Champs and earn qualification points.

This is the current points breakdown for a World Cup qualifier.

In 2024, there will be one qualifier in Australia and one in New Zealand. In Europe, there are 16—if you include the UK and Irish stops — France has three, and Italy has two.

This is a night and day difference from the circumstances in the Southern Hemisphere.

Flow reached out to Aus Cycling and the UCI to see what these governing bodies are doing to improve the pathway for privateers. Neither AusCycling nor the UCI took us up on the opportunity to comment.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game

To compare this to the 2023 qualifier rules, where points were influenced by the number of riders ranked in the 2022 EWS or EDR World Cup standings in attendance, there has been a step in the right direction.

According to the UCI rule book from 2023. “Applicable Group will be established based on the number of starters in the ranking category that finished in the top 100 in either the final 2022 EWS Global Rankings or the current EDR World Cup Overall Standings. “

To wrap your head around this, it is best thought of as a ratio, below is how points were allocated based on the number of riders.

• Group A: 7 or more riders
• Group B: 5 or more riders
• Group C: 3 or more riders
• Group D: less than 3 riders

For example, because riders like Jack Moir, Connor Fearon, and a few others did not race the 2023 Enduro National Champs at Red Hill, the points available to the riders who did show up were limited. Of course, it’s a balancing act because the more pro-level racers at a given race, the higher the level of competition; at the same time, should the riders who do race be penalised because said high-level racers take a weekend off?

To be clear, we’re not aiming to single out any riders; they haven’t done anything wrong by not going to Red Hill. Given that it was in October, we can’t imagine that riders who’d just finished a full EDR calendar were champing at the bit to race again a month later.

We’re simply pointing out that where riders on pro teams or those with enough points choose to race should not affect someone else’s chances for qualification. In essence, don’t hate the player hate the game.

This one rule last year restricted the amount of points given. Not all EDR racers want to race their national championship, and they definitely won’t compete in an open EDR when they are already racing in the Pro EDR categories.

Having a qualifying system based on the number of participants doesn’t work. Because of this one rule, countless people missed out on opportunities to qualify.

What about downhill?

To qualify for entry in a Downhill World Cup, riders must gain 40 UCI points in the UCI DHI individual ranking.

This can be done at DH National Championships, Continental DH Championships and National DH rounds.

Even to race in these categories isn’t easy, but it is the highest level of racing, so it should only bring out the world’s best. However, just as important, the geographic spread of the events tilts the qualification towards Europe.

While Australia is not unique in its lack of qualifying events, the US, Spain, South Africa, and the Philippines are all in the same boat. However, getting to Europe from Oceania and the Southern Hemisphere is significantly more difficult.

How do you privateer your way onto the World Cup?

So, for riders seeking to qualify, every race has to count. Hailing from Canberra, Toby Gibbons is one Aussie taking on this challenge for the third year in a row, aiming to secure his spot on the World Cup EDR Circuit.

“We decided to do three World Cup rounds to give myself the best chance to get as many points as I need to qualify,” Gibbons explains.

The 19-year-old has found the UCI’s recent changes to the sport to be quite a struggle.

“In Elite men, you must have 125 points. You get 75 points if you win an Open race in U21. It’s nearly impossible to qualify. I think the UCI needs to revise this and give equal opportunities to everyone to gain points,” he says.

This year, with all EDR rounds being held in Europe, the scales tip further. European riders have the home advantage, while riders from further afield, like Australia, face additional hurdles.

The previous inclusion of EDR rounds in Australia gave national privateers a fighting chance to snag a Wildcard entry, but these were hotly contested and not readily handed out.

“Last year, not many Aussies got offered Wildcards to race at the World Cups that were held in Australia,” Gibbon recalls.

Having limited resources and time to qualify, Gibbon hoped to make his first round a good one. Gibbons managed to grab 15 points on a challenging day at his first race in Finale Ligure.

“I definitely felt the pressure coming into these races because every race counts. I was hoping to come in swinging and get lots of points at the first race,” he says.

“Next year, if I qualify, my plan will be to buy a van and try to race all the World Cups. I’ll have to work a lot and take some time off training when I get back home to make it work,” Gibbon continues.

Downhillers don’t have it any easier

Hayden Stead is another rider fighting for the spotlight amongst the ever-increasing competition at the World Cups. Stead, who specialises in downhill, has raced since 2010 and, at the age of 26, finds himself still mixing it up with younger talent.

Changes to the Downhill World Cup format have gone over a bit like a lead balloon. With the controversial addition of the semi-finals, it added yet another hurdle for a privateer in the World Cups. The sport is constantly getting more professional, with new technology being implemented by the big World Cup teams. At the end of the day, this is an equipment-driven sport.

Stead, born in New Zealand and now residing in Australia, finds it difficult to match the speed of a World Cup racetrack in his off-season training.

“Nothing can really compare to the tracks over here. Maydena has the technical element, but the overall speed of the track doesn’t compare,” says Stead.

“The deterioration of a World Cup track over the week you wouldn’t believe. I struggle with the amount of practice. Generally, you want to get lots of runs in, but you don’t want to overdo it and wear yourself out,” he says.

A World Cup week is very intense, it requires a balance of practising the track to find your lines and build speed and staying fresh for your qualifying run. If that goes well, you still have to get through the semi-finals.

Pursuing the DH World Cup dream doesn’t come without its hurdles. Injuries are common in the DH scene. But it’s easy to lose sight of the end goal when they come one after the other.

“I had a bit of a run last year of injuries. I broke five bones in my hand and, towards the end of the season, (and) fractured my T5. I would give it the minimum time to recover and get back into it too soon,” he says.“When you get an injury that sets you back two months, that’s two months without proper work and riding, which sets you back in life a lot, which is really difficult to deal with.”

Stead found himself in a low spot; he needed to find something within to keep the dream alive and chase his passion.

“You think if it’s worth still chasing it. But then a couple of weeks off the bike, and you’re itching to get back on it,” he says.

So downhill is a gnarly sport, and it’s getting more professional by the year. The financial burden also takes its toll on Australian riders. There is the hefty expense of flying to Europe from the southern hemisphere riders, the UCI is increasing the price of entry to these World Cups — both DH and EDR.

From 2023 to 2024, the entry price of a UCI DH race has gone from $131 AUD to $246 AUD, but according to the UCI website, “Riders belonging to a UCI ELITE MTB TEAM are exempted from entry fees.”

Teams pay a fee each season for the privilege to be a part of the competition, but again that’s coming out of the team’s budget, not the individual riders. Privateers will need to come up with that entry fee every time they want to race.

Getting the results and still being short on points

It’s a path not for the faint-hearted there have most definitely been growing pains in the EDR era. Jack Lumb is one rider who felt the brunt of the lack of communication with the riders and a qualifying system that made it nearly impossible to qualify at the open EDR rounds in 2023.

“I think it’s a shame that the open racing is so hard to qualify for the big show, but it’s good fun. As a racer, I didn’t even know what points were getting allocated at an open EDR round,” Explains Lumb.

Looking at the UCI rule changes regarding point allocations from 2023 to 2024 uncovered that the flawed points system last year might have robbed Lumb of a shot at qualification.

With the points system as of 2024, Lumb would have attained 102 points for his impressive results in the stacked open racing category — with the highlights a top ten finish in Chate and eleventh in Loudonville.

With the point system, Lumb would have been just shy of qualifying, his sixth place at Chatel out of 143 starters. However, the points system last year saw Jack not gain any points at all!

This is because of the “Applicable Group” rule mentioned earlier, which based point allocation on the number of EDR-qualified riders in the open category. But of course, no EDR-qualified riders would race the open EDR, because the Pro event was running along side it.

“We needed to get top 5 to get any points; if you won the race, then you had an entry into the pro category.

“It’s frustrating and pretty disheartening to be honest, because you put so much into these events, flying halfway across the world and buying vans, it’s a big effort,” Lumb says.

Lumb, despite this annoying bureaucratic setback, still wants to qualify, and he should be back competing in a qualifying round in 2025.

Lumb is a rider with a lot of experience and has raced since 2010 the VIC DH series hosted his childhood racing. Eventually, Lumb branched out into enduro races and some bigger inter-state DH racing.

Lumb won his first U15 race at You Yangs in 2011. In 2012, he was the VIC state DH champion for U15 men.

He raced his first big enduro race at the Asia-Pacific Continental Enduro Series at Blue Derby. Lumb finished an impressive fourth in U21 men in 2018 and a year later at Enduro National Champs at Maydena, finished sixth, just off the pace of Connor Fearon, Dan Booker and Troy Brosnan.

With this experience, it is no surprise Lumb has earned some impressive results in the stacked open category at the EDR races.

“I’d like to race the pros at some point, so I’ll try to race some more open races and qualify. It’s been a dream of mine since forever.”

Qualifying for World Cup Enduro and Downhill is more demanding than ever, especially for privateers facing financial strain, travelling struggles, and injury setbacks.

Despite the UCI’s high mark requirements, riders like Toby Gibbons, Hayden Stead, and Jack Lumb push forward with lots of determination.

As far as what the best way forward is, we don’t have a good answer. If the UCI is committed to creating a stable pathway to the World Cup, it’s clear that more opportunities need to be available to riders to get points — especially if they live outside of Europe. Will we see the return of the EWS qualifier events that ran prior to the UCI’s take over? Who knows.

All we can do is keep asking questions and hope the right people are listening to make access for talented athletes more equitable regardless of where they live.

Photos: Clancy Kelly / @clancykelly_, Campbell James / @campbell.jam, Flow MTB