The 2025 UCI Downhill World Cup will feature more belt-driven gearbox bikes than ever before.
Riders from Intense Factory Racing, the Continental Atherton Race Team, MS Zerode and AON Racing will all line up in Bielsko-Biala, Poland in May for the first round of the series on bikes that don’t have a rear derailleur.
That’s double the number of teams using a belt-drive system in 2024.
So, why the sudden increase?
There’s no denying that with the changes implemented by Warner Brothers Discovery and the UCI for the 2025 season increasing the cost to compete, the Gates Corporation’s (manufacturers of the Gates carbon belt) €100k Belted Purse is certainly appealing.
What’s at stake?
Aside from the eternal glory that comes from standing on the top spot of the podium as the fastest male or female racer in the world, there’s also the prize purse as an incentive.
In the 2024 announcement, Gates stated the €100k Belted Purse will be awarded “to the first cycling team with an eligible team member entered to win a race”, within the elite categories of the UCI Downhill World Cup series.
We can only assume that with no winner in 2024 (despite efforts from the Gamux and Zerode teams), this has rolled over to 2025.
Aside from the fact that €100,000 is a lot of money, why does it matter so much?
According to our friends at VitalMTB, to register as a top-tier World Series Team, the fee is now €40,000, which is a massive leap from the €11,000 it was in 2023 when it last changed.
On top of a team’s other outgoings, this close to four-fold increase in fees will be problematic, especially after the recent turbulence the bike industry has gone through.
Winning the prize could mean the difference between competing in 2026 or not. In short, it matters.
Contenders ready
Who’s in the running for this hefty cash prize, then? And who has the best chance of winning it?
With four teams in the running, each with some serious firepower, it’s going to be a hard-fought battle.
Continental Atherton Team
It’s clear Charlie Hatton has what it takes to win races. He was crowned world champion in 2023, proving when everything comes together, he’s capable of standing on the top step.
Of course, if we’re talking Atherton, we have to mention Rachel. After her 40th World Cup win in 2023, if she decides to get back between the tapes, there’s no way you can rule her out as a potential top-spot contender.
When it comes to podium threats, there’s no one more formidable than the most successful DH racer of all time.
AON Racing
I think AON Racing may have the best chance of bagging the cash.
Headline riders in this new pit setup include Hattie Harnden, who looks to be concentrating properly on downhill in 2025, alongside former world champion and World Cup race winner, Reece Wilson.
Harnden might be only 23, but she’s a multiple world and national champion across cyclocross, cross-country and downhill – and ranked number one in the 2024 Enduro World Cups.
She knows how to win, and with the Gamux Sego – one of the most exciting bikes on the circuit – beneath her this season, I think she has a serious chance of bagging a top spot at some point.
Similarly, Reece Wilson’s second-place run in Loudenvielle, France, last year proved he’s back from injury and capable of winning.
Intense Factory Racing
Intense Factory Racing’s recent signing of Mille Johnset could mean the UK-based team bags the €100,000.
Johnset has been a consistent podium contender over the last couple of years, but has never quite strung together the perfect race-winning run.
That could all change in 2025, though.
MS Zerode
Having won her first World Cup in 2024, Eleonora Farina has to be a front-runner this season – and she’ll be looking to prove that the race in Les Gets wasn’t a one-off.
More than the money
Removing a traditional drive system, and ditching the derailleur and cassette – along with all the other associated bits and pieces – must be liberating for an engineer.
The regular design parameters get shifted, broadened even, giving more scope and freedom to build the ultimate downhill-focused race machine.
Slap on a gearbox and you’ve centralised a chunk of weight into the place where it’s most beneficial, as well as adjusted the sprung-to-unsprung weight ratio, helping to make the suspension more sensitive and reactive in the process.
And in a sport such as downhill racing, being able to boost traction and keep the wheels tracking the terrain more effectively is a win in almost everyone’s eyes.
Then, of course, there’s the durability and reliability that come hand in hand with the belt-drive gearbox system – no more wincing as riders squeeze through derailleur-snagging rock gaps. And you can shift gears without pedalling.
Just as we found out when we visited the Atherton HQ for a video on the new A.200.G DH bike, there’s even more that has been optimised, too.
When quizzed, Rob Gow, head of design at Atherton Bikes, told us that by moving to the gearbox approach, Atherton was able to implement Dave Weagle’s DW6 ‘mid-pivot’ suspension design.
This produces a near-vertical axle path as it cycles through the travel, maintaining the bike’s wheelbase – which keeps things feeling more consistent through the turns.
Intense Factory Racing is also new to the gearbox party, aboard the reconfigured M1 machine.
There are other brands, however, that have backed this sort of tech for years.
Gamux’s Sego – which uses the Pinion C 1.6 Smart.Shift gearbox and Gates Carbon belt drive – has been around for a while. Its glued-to-the-floor, silent ride has caught many an eye between the tapes.
Likewise, the Zerode G3, which uses the same gearbox and drive system as the Gamux, debuted on the World Cup scene last year and certainly got people talking.
What’s next?
With four bike brands in the running, are we likely to see even more entering belt-drive bikes into the DH World Cup in 2026?
Possibly, but I’m not sure everyone is convinced.
Having spoken to some brands who will remain nameless, there’s still concern over things such as drag from the gearbox and shifting. If races are being won by hundredths, or even thousandths, of a second, anything that might slow you down in a sprint has to be considered, right?
Also, when things got particularly wet at one round of the DH World Cup last year, it was reported that a couple of bikes were dropping belts, unable to deal with the build-up of mud.
Let’s not forget a lot of these big teams have drivetrain sponsors. SRAM and Shimano don’t (currently) sell gearboxes. If they did, it might be a different story.
While they continue to make money selling derailleurs, it feels as though we’re unlikely to see any of their sponsored teams using bikes with a gearbox any time soon.
This is also a very niche and specific application. The benefits I’ve listed would help a cross-country racer in some ways, but they wouldn’t reap the same number of benefits as a downhill rider, making the exercise somewhat pointless.
But for those teams without the financial backing and product being supplied by a drivetrain producer, why wouldn’t they explore a belt-drive gearbox if there’s the option to? It makes perfect sense to me.
