As we have repeatedly mentioned in the past, in 2023 there is a big leap of MTB into the mainstream world: the group including the Eurosport sports channel will try to bring MTB to a level that can no longer be qualified as a niche sport.
All very nice but it seems that this increase in quality level (still to be verified, even if Discovery Sports is an excellence) has led the teams to have to roll up their sleeves just to register their team with UCI status. The fees have been doubled in the UCI Teams, and tripled in the Top Teams: there is no real reason for now for this considerable increase in the price of the UCI fees.
UCI fees for MTB teams have gone up a lot. And the most used formula, that of the UCI team in federation group 1 (where Italy and most of Europe are located) has gone from €2.500 in 2022 to €5.000 in 2023. The prices of the UCI Elite MTBs, in some cases, they have more than tripled: in the table below the prices for 2022 and 2023. The format of the UCI Elite MTB Teams is the number of categories in which the team wants to be registered (XCO / DH / XCM),
| Team class | 2023 price | 2022 price |
|---|---|---|
| UCI ELITE MTB Team (1 Format) | €11.000 | €3.500 |
| UCI ELITE MTB Team (Format 2) | €18.000 | €6.000 |
| UCI ELITE MTB Team (Format 3) | €23.000 | |
| UCI MTB Team (group 1 federation) | €5.000 | €2.500 |
| UCI MTB Team (group 2 federation) | €3.500 | €1.750 |
| UCI MTB Team (group 3 federation) | €2.000 | €1.000 |
| UCI MTB Team (group 4 federation) | €1.000 | €500 |
ITALIAN TEAMS UCI 2023
Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Team
CS Carabinieri – Cycles Olympia Vittoria
DMT Racing Team By ASD Marconi Project's
KTM Protek Electrosystem
RDR Italy Factory Team
Rogue Racing - After Skull Team
Santa Cruz RockShox Pro Team
Scott Racing Team
Sunshine Racers ASV Nals
Torpado Factory Team
Trinx Factory Team
WeRide Fulgur Factory Team
Wilier – Pirelli Factory Team XCO
Wilier-Pirelli Factory Team MX
Let's hope, for the good of MTB, that these teams will get the visibility they deserve.
