2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar

Jun 17, 2011 at 10:21

The UCI Management Committee, which is meeting in Maastricht, the Netherlands, today approved the calendar for the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano.

Next year’s edition of the World Cup series will comprise 10 events in nine countries on three continents. There will be seven rounds for each of the traditional mountain bike disciplines: Olympic cross-country, downhill and four-cross. 2012 will also see the introduction of the cross-country eliminator, in which several rounds will go towards a final ranking. This format of racing will also feature for the first time on the program of the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships.

2012 season to kick off in Pietermaritzburg

As in 2011, the 2012 World Cup will open in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Traditional venues such as Fort William (GBR), Mont-Sainte-Anne (CAN), Val di Sole (ITA) and La Bresse (FRA) once again feature on the 2012 calendar. However La Bresse, known for its downhill course, will this year organise a round of Olympic cross-country in honour of Julien Absalon, multiple World Champion and double Olympic Champion, who lives just 15km from the French World Cup venue.

A new triple event will be organised in Val d’Isère (FRA), site of the 2009 World Ski Championships. This will be the final cross-country event of the World Cup season, and the last time these specialists will meet before the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, the final downhill and four-cross events will take place in a new venue, the Hafjell Bike Park (NOR), which hosted the 2010 European Championships.

Other venues for the 2012 Mountain Bike World Cup are Houffalize (BEL) returning to the calendar after one year’s absence, and Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE) which hosts an event for the second time. One round on the American Continent remains to be confirmed.

March 17-18: Cross country #1, Downhill #1 & Four cross #1, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
April 14-15: Cross country #2 (with Eliminator), Houffalize, Belgium
May 12-13: Cross country #3 (with Eliminator), Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech
June 2-3: Downhill #2 & Four cross #2, Val di Sole, Italy
June 9-10: Downhill #3 & Four cross #3, Fort William, Great Britain
June 23-24: Cross country #5, Downhill #4 & Four Cross #4, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada
June 30-July 1: Cross country #6, Downhill #5 & Four cross #5, TBD in America
July 28-29: Cross country #7, Downhill #6 & Four cross #6, Val d'Isere, France
September 15-16: Downhill #7 & Four cross #7, Hafjell, Norway

New format for World Championships

The 2012 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships in Austria will be held over two weeks: the downhill and four-cross competitions will take place in Leogang from August 31st to September 2nd, while the Olympic cross-country, cross-country eliminator and trials specialists will confront each other in Saalfelden from September 6th to 9th.

August 31 - September 2: Downhill & Four cross, Leogang, Austria
September 5 - September 9: Cross country & eliminator, Saalfelden, Austria
September 22-23: Marathon, Ornans, France

UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Series

The UCI Management Committee today also approved the first four events of the new UCI Mountain Bike Marathon series for 2011 – 2012. This series, which will be qualifying for the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships, will begin after the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Worlds, which will be held in Montello (ITA) on June 26th.

July 3rd, 2011 - KitzAlpbike, FestivalKirchberg, Austria
August 20th, 2011 - Grand Raid, Verbier-Nendaz-Hérémence-Evolène-Grimentz, Switzerland
September 18th, 2011- Adamello Bike, Ponte Di Legno, Italy
October 2nd, 2011 - Extrême Sur Loue, Ornans, France

Must Read This Week

1. Fails for your Friday: Pinkbike's funniest home videos edition 44935 reads
2. Pinkbike Product Picks 31411 reads
3. Life Behind Bars: Red Bull YouTube series with Semenuk 30962 reads
4. Video of the Month - April 2012 27240 reads
5. Movies for Your Monday 24496 reads
6. How-to: Learn to Corner Better - Video 22316 reads
7. Mark Matthews - Sweat Equity 19620 reads
8. Renthal: The Life Of An Integra Stem 19316 reads

67 Comments

Score Time

+ 21

Dexta (Jun 17, 2011 at 13:19)

Hey UCI....... there's a place called New Zealand down in the south Pacific come have a look we have some amazing DH trails and a huge MTB following give us a shot we won't disappoint!

+ 14

hoolydooly (Jun 17, 2011 at 17:19)

Thats for sure. Whistler is the King and NZ is the Queen of MTB.

goonrider (Jun 17, 2011 at 22:34)

@Dexta and we have alot of top 10 proven world cup riders.
you guys do the math!

boardnz (Jun 18, 2011 at 0:17)

Didn't Rotorua hold the World Champs a while back to?

five-10 (Jun 18, 2011 at 2:34)

yeah, NZ looks like one of the biggest countries for downhill riders to come from, and the tracks all look pretty sick, compared to the RSA track that everyone complained about. so if the uci can't come to ireland for some rain and roots, i'd love to see an nz race!

Worm-Burner (Jun 18, 2011 at 2:53)

I fifth that...

hugslyh (Jun 18, 2011 at 10:00)

id vote for that i really cant wait to come down to new zeland next summer Smile

gonna be soo sick

IronHyde (Jun 19, 2011 at 15:37)

I have also thought about this. Great idea! But yes, a world cup race was held in Rotorua in 2006. And as Gee has said on camera a few times, Queenstown has tracks that are of world cup level.

hugslyh (Jun 20, 2011 at 8:52)

wheres queenstown? :/

goonrider (Jun 20, 2011 at 15:24)

in the south island of new zealand.

hugslyh (Jun 20, 2011 at 15:33)

ahh okay thanks need to learn where places are as im going there next year...
could you tell me where some tracks are?

Worm-Burner (Jun 25, 2011 at 23:57)

Don't worry Hugslyh, even the old grannys in nursing homes can point you to a sick trail in NZ...

hugslyh (Jun 26, 2011 at 3:49)

haha cheers Smile

which island is better for riding?

bluedogmtb (Jul 14, 2011 at 22:55)

Rotorua was the location for 2006 UCI MTB & Trials Worlds, 2009 UCI Trials World Cup - final round and 2010 Singlespeed Worlds (www.rotoruasinglespeed.com).
Check out www.riderotorua.com for more, including a 45 minute video shot for Aussie MTB magazine about the trails in Rotorua and nearby in the heartland of the North Island. Road trip from Auckland to Rotorua (around 2.5 hours south) then onto Queenstown and points in between would be the go...

[Reply]

+ 17

j-peters Plus (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:32)

I think it is sad that 6 rounds makes up a world cup season. Maybe that's just me...

brule Mod Plus (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:39)

It definitely is not Baseball or any other big sport with dozens of games, but I think it would be tough to do more based on costs alone for travel etc. As a privateer you can expect to spend in upwards of $20.000 in a year just going to the races, not including your products needed to make that happen. I like that we're seeing more/stronger regional series that are popping up and breeding good grass root level racers that may find the support for the WC one day.

mikeyridesbikes (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:41)

7 rounds.

joshleb (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:41)

theres 7?

t4bz (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:43)

theres 8 including world champs

mtbforlife4 (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:54)

true tht thts not to bad could be longer

bxxer-rider (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:01)

good to see fort bill back again for an 11th year Smile

any one now what Hafjell is like?

j-peters Plus (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:07)

I agree that it would be harder but I also think it would be incredibly good for the sport. It would display our sport to so many more people in my opinion if we had a consistent schedule with a few more rounds, not a month and a half gap between the first two rounds of gravity racing on the world cup level. Look at a word cup series like Skiing, almost double the rounds as us.

samuelity (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:36)

and there is sea otter even though that isnt WC....still part of the season though

EDIT i will probably get negative propped for that

DirtyDee (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:57)

j-peters look again...2 and a half months between the first two rounds.

j-peters Plus (Jun 17, 2011 at 13:15)

okay 2 and a half, I think my point still stands. 2011 sea otter saw how many world cup teams? 1 or 2 on the gravity side of things, Don't get me wrong, it's an important event but come on.

turningisfun (Jun 19, 2011 at 18:23)

we should have 12 rounds!

[Reply]

benjiscott82 (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:25)

HOLY HAJFELL, BATMAN!

[Reply]

Andre1982 (Jun 17, 2011 at 15:31)

Video links from new DH wc stop hafjell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvEaBIyo7-U />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxq0XnyZN-I />
http://video.mpora.com/watch/4r6WMG96L/

JHewitt (Jun 18, 2011 at 5:33)

do you know the story behind that massive running man thing cut into the woods in the hill in the background?

Andre1982 (Jun 19, 2011 at 13:06)

The cut out running man was a pictogram for the 1994 winter olympics. Hafjell is located 10 minutes outside Lillehammer who hosted the Winter olympics 1994. Hafjell was the Arena for giant slalom and slalom.
Hafjell hosted the European champs in DH last year.

More fun from Hafjell BikePark

http://vimeo.com/25084310

[Reply]

badgermeister (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:24)

I've been to fort bill for the last three years and have waited for this schedule to make plans for next year perhaps going overseas this time. After seeing the smaller crowds at leogang on eurosport I'm thinking do I stick with the uk stage or is anywhere going to equal fort bills electric crowds?

dhpig (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:59)

Agree, nothing compares to the crowds at Fort William. The UK is mad for DH that's for sure. Ste Anne has good crowds and the course is simply awesome. At least if you make the trip overseas, you can catch 2 DH races as they are on back to back weekends.

lennoxrider (Jun 18, 2011 at 11:41)

la bresse looked mental last time for the crowd, maybe because it was a short track but it seemed like it was lined the whole way down. but its not got a dh round again after this year. but im going to it this year so not really bothered like

[Reply]

jackgolfgti (Jun 19, 2011 at 13:49)

i think the uci need to shake it up a bit and each country who wants to host a wc event should put a bid in to host it with all there proposals of track and all they have to offer a bit like they do for the football wc then if there proposal is excepted they go in to a draw then the final draw should be done as the lotto draw is where each country is a number.

it should be an 8 round event and what ever countries hold the world cup 1 year are exluded from the draw the following year until 5 venues have been pulled out then the years before venues are added to the draw so that you only have a possible 3 venues from the year before and 5 new venues/tracks/countries each year now there would be nothing to stop a country entering with a new venue and entering the draw from the start but it would still mean a new track some where.

SOME 1 FROM THE UCI PLEASE READ THIS AND TAKE NOTE UNLESS I CRASH AND BURN IN NEG PROPS

[Reply]

stumpyluke (Jun 20, 2011 at 22:47)

EVERY round apart from the South African round is held in the northern hemisphere. Surely it could be held over more months to take in the end and beginning of the southern summer. Australia for the start of the year and NZ for the final round!!! Make it a PROPER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

[Reply]

dchill (Jun 17, 2011 at 17:38)

I thought Windham had a 3 year lock on the wc with 2 of those being finals.
I guess Windhams decision to not have 4x this year f*cked it up for everyone. Shame last years 4x races were more fun then the dh

[Reply]

dchill (Jun 17, 2011 at 17:38)

[Reply]

GingaCal (Jun 17, 2011 at 14:43)

The American stop to the WC in 2012 better be on the East Cost! Windham was AMAZING last year and I'm going again this year for sure.

[Reply]

ckooi (Jun 20, 2011 at 19:30)

any info on "UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships" for 2012?

[Reply]

garethjudson (Jun 19, 2011 at 9:43)

Whens the next time when the world championship will be held in fort william? anybody no?

[Reply]

garethjudson (Jun 19, 2011 at 9:43)

Whens the next time when the world championship will be held in fort william? anybody no?

[Reply]

dean (Jun 17, 2011 at 12:09)

Pietermaritzburg is world champs 2013

dhpig (Jun 17, 2011 at 12:54)

Can they find a place farther away...oh I forgot, Australia hosted in 2009. I bet that RSA doesn't get a regular WC stop in 2013. One stop is enough.

+ 10

tom-cuthbert (Jun 17, 2011 at 14:39)

Gtfo with your ignorance dhpig

We here in NZ have to spend the most out of any countries privateers getting ours young guys over there because its so far away.

We have better tracks and services than South Africa and Australia but we haven't seen the UCI since 2006.

If they can spend the money going to SA, then they should remove that crappy flat course and come here. You've all seen follow me. We have some of the best tracks in the world as well as consistently at least 2 or 3 riders in the WC top 10.

So apart from the issue of money which can be fixed by cancelling the SA round, whats stopping them coming here?

Nothing.

nobodyhasthisname (Jun 17, 2011 at 15:35)

bow

ctd07 (Jun 17, 2011 at 17:01)

Nz has some great tracks but its councils are just as poorly run as the UCI and currently just isn't cut out for the most part to take world cup volumes of riders and all their team vehicles at venues - its a shame as it is a truly world class place

tom-cuthbert (Jun 17, 2011 at 18:23)

LOLWUT?

Have you seen the earthquake recovery coordination currently underway herein chch? We had trucks picking up silt the first day, and door to door help the 2nd. Our council organization is fine. And as far as facilities go...

Queenstown now has chairlift access, and dozens of hotels, bars, restaurants, bike shops and the likes literally right out side the pits.

Its exactly the same setup as whistler.

Larsy (Jun 18, 2011 at 4:22)

Considering that NZ & OZ have four riders in the current top ten WC DHi rankings and the current senior & junior world champs, I think we have proved that we deserve a regular spot on the WC tour - in either country.

There are better places in OZ to hold a WC level event than dusty old Stromlo.

IronHyde (Jun 19, 2011 at 15:47)

Even if they were to swap from year to year between NZ and AUS, I'm sure dedicated Kiwi's and Australians would make the journey between countries to spectate. This should not be overlooked by the UCI!

[Reply]

jacob-jay-12 (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:00)

gonna try to get to fort william next year then Big Grin

JHewitt (Jun 18, 2011 at 5:22)

ahh lucky I think I'll have exams around then next year, it was awesome to see it this year though

[Reply]

runner (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:51)

I hope the American round ends up being Windham!

dhpig (Jun 17, 2011 at 10:58)

Rumor has it that most riders and teams want a return to Bromont Quebec. Less travel and a very challenging track.

tstep3 (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:34)

i hope it comes to the west coast but we all know that wont happen...

dhpig (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:45)

Your're right it won't happen as long as Whistler continues to host Crankworx.

flipfantasia (Jun 17, 2011 at 11:48)

Crankworx has nothing to do with it.....UCI doucheyness however has lots to do with it

DirtyDee (Jun 17, 2011 at 12:03)

There used to be some pretty brutal courses out in Colorado, hopefully with Gwin leading the way some American resorts and track builders will come up with the goods.

dhpig (Jun 17, 2011 at 12:06)

Agree, but a lot has to do with economics. WC DH teams that send riders to compete at Crankworx don't want the added expense of travelling "again" to the west coast. It would be cool to see BC and Washington host back to back WC.

mikelevy Mod Plus (Jun 17, 2011 at 13:47)

@flipfantasia - Can you elaborate.. does the UCI charge a venue to hold an event? I wonder what the cost of a World Cup is compared to an event like Crankworx?

I'd assume that Whistler would be a great place to hold a WC!

specialized116 (Jun 17, 2011 at 21:56)

Whistler seems to be a logical choice for everyone that isnt involved with the UCI, the only problem with the west coast in general is the weather, its spuratic and very unpredictable. Another thing to consider is the fact that the mountain ranges in North America are very spaced out, unlike Europe. Even if there was another stop the cost of travel would be huge because youre travelling from Quebec to BC, where as you can drive 14 hours from fort william to leogang. In my opinion those could be two huge deciding factors to why the UCI doesnt have more stops here. Also, if you look at the top riders on the circuit, excluding gwin and smith, most of them are european, I imagine this could be another reason theres more stops in Europe as its UCI's way of showing off their homegrown talent, or something along those lines. We, North America, have freeriding and Europe seems to have the downhill on the professional level. On another note, I'm quite curious to see this track in Norway, I feel it could be pretty sick

tstep3 (Jun 17, 2011 at 22:18)

economics is the biggest factor because even though north america is far from europe windham isnt far from MSA or bromont. And there are courses on the west coast that could be world cup courses and there are resorts in colorado, and theres northstar in california which would be a good spot and then theres whistler but whistler already has crankworx, so it would probably be in the U.S. or one of the other lesser known resorts in BC

JHewitt (Jun 18, 2011 at 5:18)

14 hours from Fort William to Leogang?! What?!

Took us about 2 and a half hours to get from Oban (where we were staying) to Fort William, and then 10 hours to get from Oban back to Bath. There's no way in hell you could get to leogang in 14 hours... without the fuzz getting involved anyway.

specialized116 (Jun 18, 2011 at 6:18)

sorry, 20ish hours....should have done my homework, i knew it was over a 12 hour drive

Knife-in-the-dark (Jun 18, 2011 at 7:36)

I would kill for a WC stop in Vail, CO again. Too bad the one in 2001 was severly downplayed due to 9/11, (understandable) that the resort will never shell out the money, for what it sees as a losing venture, due to bad previous experience.

[Reply]

Mack-the-Beast (Jun 18, 2011 at 3:40)

val d'isere!! i didnt know there was a big bike scene there in summer

[Reply]

Pin-it (Jun 22, 2011 at 8:10)

2013 World Champs in RSA apparently Smile

[Reply]

revoltDH (Jun 17, 2011 at 12:40)

just YES!!

[Reply]