UCI Announces 2017 Rules Changes and DHI Calendar 13

​The UCI had a bit of a management committee get-together recently in Doha, Qatar, in conjunction with the 2016 UCI Road World Championships, and among the decisions taken were several that pertain to the discipline of downhill:

  • Following last year's move to reduce the number of riders showing up at a World Cup event, the number of minimum points required to register has once again been increased, this time up from 30 to 40.
  • There will also be a reduction in the number of riders allowed into the Women's and Junior Men's finals, 15 and 20 respectively (down from 20 and 30). Protected women who fail to qualify for finals will be added to the 15 qualified riders.
  • Finally, a separate Junior Women's event will be organized (whereas previously, Junior Women were lumped into the Elite Women category).
  • The men qualified for finals will now be provided a separate practice session in between the Women's final and the Men's final. this is to give the men a chance at practicing on course conditions that more closely resemble what they will be racing on.

These decisions were taken in an effort to "better protect the integrity of the course and therefore improve the quality of competition."

As for the calendar, the good news is that there will be 7 World Cup rounds in 2017 in addition to World Championships, and not as we previously feared only 6. Lenzerheide was missing from the preliminary calendar we saw earlier this year, but the venue has since raised its hand again and will welcome our downhillers at the same time as the XCO event is held. As for Worlds, they will be held in Cairns, Australia at the tail end of the season, which is unusual for this venue where World Cup races have been held in March or April in recent years. Perhaps we'll steer clear of monsoons this way?

2017 UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup and World Championships Calendar

  • 29-30 Apr DHI  Lourdes, FRA
  • 03-04 Jun DHI  Fort William, GBR 
  • 10-11 Jun DHI  Leogang, AUT 
  • 01-02 Jul  XCO - DHI  Vallnord, AND 
  • 08-09 Jul  XCO - DHI  Lenzerheide, SUI 
  • 05-06 Aug XCO - DHI  Mont-Sainte-Anne, CAN 
  • 26-27 Aug XCO - DHI  Val Di Sole, ITA
  • 05-10 Sep UCI MTB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - XCO/XCR/DHI  Cairns, AUS
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