2024 World Cup calendar sees Mont-Sainte-Anne return to host grand finale
XC schedule expands with new venues while enduro series centralizes further in Europe
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
World Cup racing will look a little different in 2024. There are new venues in South America, North America and Europe to look forward to across disciplines. Some things will stay the same, though. That’s a good thing for Canadian fans as Mont-Sainte-Anne returns to host the final round of cross country and downhill racing in October.
Here are the quick numbers: the 2024 World Cup will span 10 countries on three continents over 15 race weekends. That includes six new race venues (sort of) with the XC Marathon (XCM) calendar still to be announced.
Update: UCI finally released the XCM calendar, four months after the main calendar.
New Venues for all disciplines
One exciting element of the announcement is new race venues. In South America, this includes two stops in Brazil, one in Mairiporã and another in Araxá. Those two venues kick off the cross country season. The XC crowd will also get the only U.S. stop, heading to another new venue in Mt Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid in New York. One last “new” venue for the XC racers is a stop in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The venue has hosted international enduro racing before but the XCO/XCC course will be all new and the cross country racers will have the venue to themselves that weekend.
The plethora of new cross country venues, says UCI President David Lappartient, “Testifies to the popularity of the sport, which the International Olympic Committee has just confirmed will be on the programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
Downhill racers get one new venue in the seven-stop calendar when the World Cup visits Poland for the first time. Bielsko-Biała will host a combined downhill and enduro race weekend in May. That’s one of two new venues for the six-stop enduro World Cup (EDR) series. Enduro racers will also visit another new venue in Aletsch Arena in the Valais region of Switzerland. Even with the new venues, the EDR series will, for 2024, be entirely contained in continental Europe.
Returning classics and another MSA finale
Along with the new venues, several iconic courses return for all disciplines. Fort William kicks off the downhill series in May. Finale Ligure moves from the end of the enduro season to a new position as the opening EDR round. Nove Mesto, Leogang and Val di Sole are all back, as is the 10-day combined World Cup in Haute Savoie region of France.
For Canadians, the most exciting news will be that Mont-Sainte-Anne will again host World Cup finals for the cross country and downhill series. Like this year, the classic Quebec venue will determine overall titles in early October. MSA first hosted World Cup racing way back in 1991. The last two years, MSA has delivered spectacular wins for Canadians in the downhill races.
“We’re proud that Warner Bros Discovery is once again entrusting us with the organization of the World Series Finals,” says Marie-France Couture, Executive Producer for the Corporation Événements d’été de Québec. “The Mont-Sainte-Anne stage has been part of the UCI calendar for three decades, but nothing was taken for granted! This announcement is fantastic news for the region, mountain bike enthusiasts and our athletes.”
Olympic break
With the Paris Olympic Games running from July 26 to August 11 in 2024, the World Cup calendar will take a lengthy mid-season break. The last cross country race will be in Haute Savoie, France at the end of June. The enduro racers get two more chances to race in July. Then World Cup racing pauses for all of August before resuming with a combined enduro and downhill weekend in Loudenvielle, France in early September.
2024 World Cup Calendar
- Mairiporã, Bra – April 12-14 (XCO/XCC)
- Araxá, Bra – April 19-21 (XCO/XCC)
- Fort William, GBR – May 3-5 (DH)
- Finale, Ita – May 10-12 (EDR)
- Bielsko-Biała, Pol – May 17-19 (DH/EDR)
- Nové Mesto, Cze – May 24-26 (XCO/XCC) + XCM
- Loagang, Aut – June 7-9 (DH/EDR)
- Val di Sole, Ita – June 14-16 (XCO/XCC/DH)
- Crans Montana, Sui – June 21-23 (XCO/XCC)
- Haute-Savoie – Jun 28-July 7 (XCO/XCC/DH/EDR) +XCM
- Aletsch Arena, Sui – Jul 12-14 (EDR)
2024 UCI mountain bike world championships – Pal Arinsal, Andorra – Aug. 28-Sept. 1
- Loudenvielle, Fra. – Sept. 6-8 (DH/EDR)
- Lake Placid, U.S.A. – Sept. 27-29 (XCO/XCC) +XCM
- Mont-Saine-Anne, Que. – Oct. 4-6 (XCO/XCC/DH)
