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UCI brings back cross-country eliminator to mountain bike World Cup

Will visit eight cities in seven countries on three continents in 2017

The cross-country eliminator (XCE) is a spectator friendly and thrilling mountain bike format in which four racers go head-to-head on a fast and short circuit. In 2017, the UCI has announced it will launch an eight-round World Cup for XCE characterized by city-centre competitions for athletes at the highest level of the sport.

To make the urban racing possible the UCI has partnered with City Mountainbike who specialize in staging XCE events. They have been running UCI races since 2012 and for three seasons between its inception and 2014 the discipline featured on the UCI mountain bike World Cup. City Mountainbike will handle the course set-up, official timing and television production.

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The races are held on short and technical cross-country courses but the race format is that of four-cross. Making the races in 2017 particularly exciting will be that they will be held in eight city centres on three continents over the course of the six-month season. The XCE season will start in May in Volterra, Italy and pass through the U.S., Thailand, and cities across Europe before wrapping up in Beirut, Lebanon in October.

The XCE season will then wrap up with the 2017 UCI urban cycling world championships in China which will feature XCE, trials and BMX freestyle park. The world championships will be run in partnership with Wanda Sports with the exact venue and date to be announced at a later date.

Countries will accumulate qualification points for the world championships at the XCE World Cups making the two events a full calendar for the discipline. Equal prize money will be offered for both men and women.

“I am delighted by this partnership with City Mountainbike, which enables us to relaunch a discipline that is spectacular and popular with fans,” said UCI president Brian Cookson. “With this new UCI mountain bike eliminator World Cup, we confirm our desire to bring our sport to where the public is, in the heart of cities.

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“As with trials and BMX freestyle park, eliminator requires minimum logistics, which fits in with the desire of cities to organise events that use temporary installations,” Cookson explained. “The international character of this first edition proves that the format appeals to cities throughout the world and we are delighted by that.”

2017 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup calendar

Volterra (Italy) – May 5-6, 2017*
Columbus (U.S.) – June 6, 2017
Waregem (Belgium) – June 24-25, 2017
Bangkok (Thailand) – July 29-30, 2017*
Winterberg (Germany) – August 26-27, 2017
Apeldoorn (Netherlands) – September 2-3, 2017*
Antwerp (Belgium) – September 23-24, 2017
Beirut (Lebanon) – October 15-16, 2017*

*Pending confirmation by national federation