The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships will be held in the Primiero Valley, Trentino. It's been known for some time that 2026 would be a special year for the Primiero-San Martino di Castrozza area, as well as for the world of mountain biking: a first for the professional and amateur marathon worlds, riding side by side on the same trails and on the same weekend, September 12th and 13th.
Source: press release
The calendar still has about seven months to go before the wheels and dirt roads put an end to words and give way to action, but the excitement is inevitable and already sky-high. The countdown to the 2026 UCI Marathon World Championships has officially begun. On September 12th and 13th, the town of Primiero–San Martino di Castrozza will have the honor of being the MTB capital, where for the first time in the history of the Marathon World Championships, the Elite categories and the following day the Masters will compete on the same weekend and on the same course, the Mythos Primiero Dolomiti, in a new format approved by the UCI, which definitively raises the bar for the discipline.
The Marathon Elite World Championship route will mirror the Masters' with a few minor modifications, a selective course that certainly makes no compromises. It's 87 km long with a whopping 3.530 meters of elevation gain, peppered with long, steady climbs and descents alternating with steep sections on technical singletrack. From the start to the finish in Fiera di Primiero, nothing is off-limits; concentration while riding is just as important as clarity of mind, where it's not just pure performance that's rewarded, but also effort management and race strategy.
The Elite Men (start at 9:30 am) and Elite Women (start at 10 am) rainbow jerseys are up for grabs on Saturday 12 September 2026, with the world's best Marathon athletes competing on a terrain that requires a combination of power, endurance and precision: the margin for error is practically zero.
On Sunday, 12 World Masters titles will be awarded, with amateur athletes competing on the same course as the Elite athletes the previous day, starting at 8:30 a.m. The World Masters Championships represent a welcome return after a two-year absence.
The official program also includes the Mythos Primiero Dolomiti Marathon, 82 km with a 3500 m elevation gain, starting and finishing in Fiera di Primiero, and the Classic, 55,7 km with a 2280 m elevation gain, also starting and finishing in Fiera di Primiero. These two special events will round out a weekend entirely dedicated to mountain biking, including the "Mythos Junior Kids Race," a timed skill course that rewards the enjoyment of the youngest bikers (0-12 years).
Primiero Valley, the capital and also... a mountain bike paradise. The weekend will take place in one of the most evocative mountain scenery in the world, a unique route overlooking the spectacular Pale di San Martino mountain range, the largest of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Equally impressive are the start and finish locations in Fiera di Primiero, the passages through Imèr and Mezzano, and the entire route, which winds through an area that has always been suited to great off-road cycling. Primiero Valley confirms itself as the perfect testing ground for a World Championship, ready to stage a weekend where the best the MTB scene has to offer will emerge. This is all thanks to the long-standing work of Massimo Panighel, head of Pedali di Marca, the expert company that manages the event's organization with the support of 2004 marathon world champion Massimo Debertolis, a native of Primiero and a great expert on the area's network of mountain bike trails, which span the Primiero, Vanoi, and San Martino di Castrozza valleys.
Online registration is now open and is proceeding rapidly, with attendees from all over the world.
OFFICIAL SITE
