u/Jonuk85

What a start to the season! Round 1 in South Korea had a little bit of everything - crashes, loose riding, juniors going faster than the elites and a little bit of history being made!

RACE RECAP

In the women’s elite category, Vali showed that consistency was key - she didn’t take a single fastest sector but kept things smooth and fast to take the overall win - and this was with a rear flat too! But she wasn’t the fastest female on the weekend - junior racer Aletha Ostgaard beather by 0.841 seconds! One to watch out for in the future! Gloria Scarsi and Hattie Harnden took 2nd and 3rd behind Höll.

In the elite men’s, Asa showed that he’s more than ready to deal with the pressure of the elites in his debut season and took the overall win - making history by being the first rider to win both qualis and finals in a debut season. Bruni showed he’s well up for the challenge again this year, coming in second and Amaury was over half a second faster than Asa in sector three but he crashed and lost time - still managing to get third place!

FANTASY LEAGUE

More importantly, how did your team do in our fantasy league?

On the overall leaderboard, we have a tie for top spot! Team Meat Sweats by seanluge and team EVL B by extrasensory both scored a whopping 555 points with very similar teams having picked Asa, Amaury and the Alran brothers as well as Anna Newkirk.

Here’s how the top ten is looking on the leaderboard:

https://preview.redd.it/vhke3v7lmxyg1.png?width=1438&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ca2f8da75c9fb931e2a601d6ce608de0e69d176

Needless to say, the competition this season is hotter than ever and we can’t wait for the next race: Loudenvielle-Peyragudes in France on May 28!

Right then — Round 1 is here, and we’re kicking things off at a brand new track: Mona YongPyong, South Korea!

From what we’ve seen so far, this track looks proper. Fresh build, a bit raw, and likely to change a lot over the race weekend. Expect it to start loose and blown out, then get faster (and sketchier) as lines develop. Classic first-round chaos… which is exactly what you want in the fantasy game. Find out more about the track here.

Riders to keep an eye on 👀

On the men’s side, it’s hard to ignore the usual heavy hitters - Jackson and Loic - but this season we’ve got the new faces of Max and Till Alran and Asa Vermette coming up from the juniors and mixing things up.

For the women, of course Vali will be gunning for her 5th title, but you can’t write off Myriam, Tahnee and the likes of Jess Blewitt and Gracey Hemstreet who’ve been tearing things up.

A handy tip for Round 1 💡

Don’t go too safe.

Everyone’s tempted to stack their team with the obvious picks in the first round — but this is where taking one or two smart risks can really pay off. Unknown track + early season = opportunity. If a lesser-picked rider sneaks onto the podium, you’re suddenly flying.

At the same time… don’t go completely rogue either. There’s a balance (we’re still trying to find it ourselves 😅).

If you haven’t locked your team in yet:
👉 https://www.mtbfantasy.com/

Get it sorted before race day — and then sit back and enjoy the carnage.

The race will be streamed on a variety of channels depending on your location - check out the info here on where to watch it. And of course you’ll get a plethora of coverage on riders and teams socials and YouTube channels.

Good luck out there,

u/jonuk85 and u/timrross

MTB Fantasy

Hey everyone! We are u/timrross and u/Jonuk85, the founders of MTBFantasy.com which this subreddit - r/mtbfantasyleague - is for!

We’ve launched MTBfantasy.com for the DH MTB 2026 season and we’re super excited to share it with you! We’re stoked with how it’s looking so far but it’s still a work in progress and we’d love you to sign up and start testing it out with us.

First off - head over to MTBFantasy.com, create your team and then share your team name here to introduce yourself.

Let us know if you have any questions, feedback, tips, etc!