News from the UCI:
“The 2026 UCI Snow Bike World Championships will take place on 7 February 2026 in Châtel, Haute-Savoie (France), in the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski resort. This will be the third edition of the Championships, and the third consecutive year the event is hosted in Châtel, following the success of the first two editions.
Photo courtesy of the UCI
“Inspired by alpine skiing, the event will feature two fast and technical formats: Super-G in the morning, which is a high-speed downhill run with sweeping turns that tests riders’ precision and control, and dual slalom in the evening, where two athletes race side by side on parallel courses in short, explosive elimination heats.
“With both events on the same day, athletes must carefully manage their recovery and pacing to perform across two contrasting race profiles, culminating in a spectator-friendly evening showdown.
“As in previous editions, competitors must use the same bike for both events, with studded tyres – within regulation limits – permitted for additional grip on the snow.
“Expect fantastic battles for the rainbow jersey of UCI Snow Bike World Champion against Châtel’s dramatic winter setting and in a welcoming alpine atmosphere.”
To find out more about the event, we checked out the UCI’s article about the 2025 Snow Bike World Championships:
“WHAT IS SUPER-G?
“Again, taking its cues from the familiar ski event, Super-G sees riders tackle long and medium turns at high speed. It’s a ‘one rider at a time’ time-trial format, against the clock: any rider who posts the fastest time takes their place in the leader’s hot seat, while the riders with quicker qualifying times run last, bringing the tension to boiling point in the freezing weather.
“The action is set on the L’Aity ski slope and shares part of the Linga ski slope with the dual slalom course. Over a course almost 2000 metres long and dropping 600 metres, each run is around two minutes of intense concentration, skill and bravery (the fastest time from last year was 1:47.52).
“WHAT IS DUAL SLALOM?
“Just like the skiing event it draws from, the UCI Snow Bike World Championships dual slalom sees pairs of riders go head-to-head down a short section of ski slope, making tight turns left and right through marked gates. The elimination format sees one rider from each round go through, and the other eliminated, until the last two face off in the big final.
“Like last year the course is set on the Linga ski slope, a little over 500 metres long, with an elevation drop of just over 150 metres.
In 2024, the Super-G races were won by two French athletes: French Snow Bike Champion Pierre Thévenard – who lives in Châtel – and fellow French athlete Morgane Such.
Thévenard won an amazing second gold medal in the dual slalom, while the women’s victory went to Swiss rider (and Downhill European Champion) Lisa Baumann.
“On their way to the gold medals they had to defeat such experienced and proven downhill stars as 2012 UCI World Champion Morgane Charre (FRA) and Great Britain’s Danny Hart, who was UCI Mountain Bike World Champion in 2011 and 2016.
“Alongside them were riders of the calibre of Italy’s Veronika Widmann (silver medal in the Super-G), Dylan Levesque (FRA) and Ireland’s Henry Kerr (silver medal and fastest in the first two splits in the Super-G), as well as downhill UCI World Champion and five-time UCI World Cup overall winner Sabrina Jonnier (FRA), who was tempted out of retirement for the special Haute-Savoie event.
From the 2025 report:
“Many fans will be eager to see the return of the legendary Cédric Gracia (FRA) – known for downhill but also twice UCI World Championship medalist in four-cross, who has also competed at the highest level in freeride, slopestyle and enduro. At the age of 46 he is still an athlete to be reckoned with: last year, he finished 12th in the Super-G, and was knocked out in the dual slalom by no less than Great Britain’s two-time downhill UCI World Champion Danny Hart.”
Here’s more information from the UCI about the Snow Bike World Championships:
Snow biking is something American riders have done for years, both on fat bikes and regular mountain bikes.
Here’s a photo John Ker shot of Brian Lopes snow biking at Big Bear, California, in the early 1990s:
Here’s a photo Bob Allen shot of Hans Rey snow biking in Montana that we used on our Table of Contents page in February 1993:
Here’s a photo of Hans Rey racing downhill in the snow at Big Bear, California, in early June of 1991:
Here’s the flyer for the upcoming Snow Bike World Championships, to be held in France on February 6, 2026, with the Super G starting at 10AM and the Dual Slalom starting at 5PM:
Here’s former MBA staffer Doug Barnett testing a fat bike in the snow in Southern California around 10 years ago:
Here’s a video of Cam McCaul and Casey Brown snow biking at Jackson Hole, Wyoming:
Here’s the UCI’s technical guide to snow biking competition: