Skoda Auto is backing the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships for a second year in a row, with the 2026 edition held at Val di Sole in the Italian Alps from 26 to 30 August. More than 800 riders from over 50 countries will race for 17 world titles across five disciplines. The Czech brand is using the event to put its full all-electric line-up in front of a cycling audience it has courted for years.
Skoda Auto has confirmed it is an official partner of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships for the second consecutive year. This year’s event runs from 26 to 30 August at the Italian mountain resort of Val di Sole, one of the sport’s best-known venues.
The championships bring together more than 800 riders from over 50 countries, competing for 17 UCI World Championship titles. Five disciplines are on the programme: cross-country Olympic, cross-country short track, cross-country team relay, downhill and E-mountain bike cross-country. Winners take the rainbow jersey, cycling’s traditional mark of a world champion.
An all-electric line-up on display
Rather than bringing a single hero car, Skoda is showing its complete range of battery-electric models along the courses and in the fan zones. That means the Peaq, which the company describes as its new flagship, the Epiq SUV crossover, and the established Enyaq and Elroq.
The brand’s Enyaq mobile cafe, a familiar fixture at its cycling events, will also be on site. Skoda says it designed the ‘hot seat’ used by the current leader in the downhill competition, the chair where a rider waits to see whether their time survives the rest of the field.
Alongside the trackside presence, Skoda is running competitions with prizes for mountain bike fans through its WeLoveCycling.com platform.
Why a carmaker sponsors bike racing
Cycling is not a side project for Skoda. The company’s link to the sport goes back to its origins as Laurin & Klement, a bicycle manufacturer founded in 1895, and it has built one of the longest-running sponsorship programmes in motoring around that history — most visibly as a long-term partner of the Tour de France.
Mountain biking gives the brand a different audience from road racing: younger, more outdoors-oriented, and a natural fit for the SUV and crossover body styles that now dominate its range. Putting four electric models in the fan zones rather than one concept car also says something about how quickly that range has filled out, with the Elroq and Enyaq already on sale and the Epiq and Peaq extending the line-up at either end.
What it means
For buyers, there is no product news here — no prices, specifications or launch dates were announced with the partnership. The value is in visibility: five days of exposure for four electric Skodas in front of a European audience that is already predisposed towards them.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships run at Val di Sole from 26 to 30 August 2026.
Source: www.welovecycling.com