The UCI World Championships return to Val Gardena. See you in 2030!

Dear HEROes,

Have you already heard the news? If you haven’t, we’re happy to spread the word!

After 15 years, Val Gardena will once again host the UCI Marathon World Championships. In occasion of the 194^th UCI Congress, which was held during the Road Cycling World Cup in Kigali, in Ruanda, the UCI announced the stage of the 2030 World Championships.

The competing athletes will of course be the stars of the show, together with the two iconic routes that every HERO knows, respects, and ‘fears’ – the 86 km and 4,500 hm trail for the men and the 60 km and 3,200 hm for the women.

After the 2015 runaway’s success – were you there? – you can now look forward to the next UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championship in Val Gardena. Save the date, for in five years you’ll get to take part or admire the race set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The location has been the home to the HERO Südtirol Dolomites, a race which has achieved the reputation of being the toughest and most spectacular mountain bike marathon race in the world, while concomitantly managing to attract younger generations to the discipline.

During the last World Cup at the HERO in 2025 Alaban Lakata, from Austria, won the race and his second title in the marathon discipline; while Gunn-Rita Dhale from Norway (gold medal at the 2004 Athens Cross-Country) won the women’s ranking and conquered her sixth world marathon participation.

Save the date - see you in June 2030!