The First E-Mountain Bike World Championships Are Coming This Summer
The UCI will host its first electric mountain bike championship races in August.
Men’s and women’s elite e-MTB races will take place during the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships on cross-country Olympic courses.
Throttles are disallowed, wattage is limited to 250, and motor speeds must top out at 25 kilometers per hour.
Mountain bikers, start your engines (er, batteries): This year, e-bike racing will take a sanctioned spot at elite-level events.
The UCI announced this week that it will hold the first-ever elite World Championship races for electric mountain bikes this August. The events will run during the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Mont-Saint-Anne in Québec, Canada.
Two e-bike races-E-MTB Men Elite and E-MTB Women Elite-will go down on the program’s opening day. They’re open to athletes aged 19 and over who are registered with, and selected by, their national federation.
The motor-assisted riders will race on the same 7.3K course as the traditional cross-country Olympic (XCO) circuit. It will be interesting to see how many laps they can crank out with the extra pedal-assist speed.
And speaking of pedal assistance, no throttles are allowed in competition and definite rules will govern how much extra wattage a racer’s e-bike can provide. The motor can’t kick in more than 250 watts, for instance, and electric speeds must top out at 25 kilometers per hour (about 15 mph).
Under UCI regulations, the motor can only provide assistance while the racer is pedaling-unless they’re off the bike using the walk mode function, where it’s limited to 6 kilometers per hour (about 3.7 mph).
Racers must finish on the same bike and battery they start with. They can get help in the dedicated feed and technical assistance zone on the course, but they can’t carry additional batteries, nor change batteries, in the assistance zone.
Men and women on the e-MTB podium will receive equal prize money: 1,500 euros (about $1,685) for first, 1,000 euros ($1,123) for second, and 500 euros ($562) for third. They’ll also get a specially designed World Championship jersey, which the UCI will unveil at a later date.
The 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships will take place from August 28-September 1. After the cross-country team relay and e-MTB races on the opening day, events will continue with individual XCO and downhill (DHI) racing. A total of 13 world titles will be awarded over five days of competition.
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