MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: COLOUR-DIPPED CUSTOM CFR BIKES FOR CANYON MTB MEDAL HOPEFULS

From Enduro to Downhill and Cross-Country, Canyon riders at UCI Mountain Bike World Championships to receive splatter-effect customised CFR bikes to match their national flags.

Monday, 1st September 2025: This year’s Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais, Switzerland, will once again be the ultimate proving ground as athletes from across the globe compete for their national teams for the right to wear the rainbow stripes during the season ahead.

With a roster of world-beating athletes racing podium-topping bikes, this year Canyon is giving its riders an extra layer of motivation: each athlete will receive a custom-edition of their race bike, designed to match the colours of their national flag as a visual echo of the chaos, speed, and precision that define World Championship racing.

Across Junior, Under-23 and Elite categories, Canyon will be hoping to celebrate the achievements of its athletes as they aim for medal success on their customised Lux World Cup CFR, Strive CFR and Sender CFR bikes.

The paint concept was created by Canyon’s in-house product design team. Canyon Graphic Designer Ralph Zähringer said: “For every athlete it’s a great honour to take part at World Championships. For us the main question was, how can we design the bikes to represent their nationality on one hand and on the other how can we express their individuality. The answer came in artworks in our athletes’ national colours, together with a special watercolour paint effect. It comes in multiple colour nuances and adds a kind of movement and dynamism to the design. How the effect turns out at the end is pure chance and therefore unique for each rider.”

ENDURO: Finishing on Monday 1^st September, our Canadian ripper Jessie Melamed was racing aboard his Strive CFR, bedecked in the red and white of the Canadian national flag. Melamed already has two World Cups to his name this season – Saalfelden Leogang, Austria and Finale, Italy – and finished in a commendable 6^th place.

DOWNHILL: Later in the week comes qualifying for Downhill followed by men’s and women’s finals over the weekend of 6^th and 7^th September. Canyon riders Troy Brosnan (AUS), Marine Cabirou (FR), Luca Shaw (USA), Aletha Østgaard​ (USA) and Henri Kiefer (DE) will be on the starting grid, fresh from Les Gets World Cup where they won the DH team title. With junior World Champion titles for Cabirou, Kiefer and Brosnan in the past, plus podium threats Østgaard and Shaw on the start grid, all riders are hot prospects for a medal on the Sender CFR.

XC: Closing the Championships are the XCO and XCC races where it’s a show of force from Canyon.  Former Olympic gold medallist Jenny Rissveds will be full of confidence after her XCO and XCC wins in Les Gets. But she’ll be up against our Dutch multi-discipline sensation and 2024 World Champion Puck Pieterse (NL) plus our U23 European XCO champion Valentina Corvi (IT).

Jenny and Valentina's bikes are pictured below.

In the men’s race 2023 World Cup overall winner Luca Schwarzbauer (DE) will be up against 2022 & 2023 World Champion Sam Gaze​ (NZ), plus our young talents Thibaut Francois (ES)​, and Noa Filippi (FR)​, all lining up on Canyon for Short Track, Olympic distance and Mixed Team relay races. Luca and Thibaut's bikes are pictured below.

After the official announcement today (3 Sept), we can confirm that star of Road and Cyclocross races Mathieu van der Poel will be present at the World Championships after his warm up race at last weekend’s Les Gets XC World Cup. Mathieu, preferring to stick with what he knows best, will be racing on his regular black Lux World Cup CFR.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Photo credit: Canyon/Boris Beyer. Further images available at these locations:

• Canyon frame designs + additional rider images

• Full gallery - Canyon CLLCTV Downhill team

• Full gallery - Canyon CLLCTV XC team

2. Canyon MTB World Championship bikes

• Canyon Strive CFR: our race-proven enduro bike with multiple EWS and EDR World Cup podiums. The Strive CFR has been consistently top-rated in independent tests as one of the fastest and most capable enduro bikes available.

• Canyon Sender CFR: For Downhill, the Sender CFR is our riders’ weapon of choice. A full-throttle, high-pivot downhill sled that was built to be the fastest bike for any DH course. It’s the result of our decades-long obsession with downhill racing.

• Canyon Lux World Cup CFR: Canyon’s XC athletes race the hyper-efficient Lux World Cup CFR. With its ultralight 1535g frame that builds into a sub-11kg complete bike, the Lux World Cup CFR has proven itself as one of the most successful cross‑country race bikes ever—clinching top podiums at the pinnacle of MTB competition.