UCI Posts New 2020 World Cup Calendar
After several months of cancellations of postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCI has now released an updated calendar for World Cup XC and Downhill racing.
XC riders will have their season compacted into one month while Downhill will have a bit more time to play with and their season will run through from September until November. Leogang is still scheduled to host the World Championships at the moment but the date has been pushed back from September 5-6 to October 5 -11 and it will now be a doubleheader of Downhill and XC. Lenzerheide will also be the same with both disciplines competing over the course of one weekend, This brings the calender up to 7 rounds in total.
The Rounds
Three rounds have been scheduled as shared rounds. This means that two races will be run back to back over one weekend. The format will provisionally unfold as the following.
Downhill: Thursday – Qualifying 1, Friday – Race 1 // Saturday – Qualifying 2, Sunday – Race 2.
Cross Country: Tuesday – Short Track 1, Thursday – XCO 1 // Friday – Short Track 2, Sunday – XCO 2.
However these details are still to be confirmed in due course.
2020 Revised World Cup calendar
5-6 September Lenzerheide, Switzerland (XCO/DHI)
12-13 September Val di Sole, Italy (XCO/DHI)
19-20 September Les Gets, France (XCO/DHI)
29 September – 4 October Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic (XCO) – two rounds
5 – 11 October Leogang, Austria, World Championships (XCO/DHI)
15-18 October Maribor, Slovenia (DHI) – two rounds
29 October – 1st November Lousa, Portugal (DHI) – two rounds
Three rounds have been scheduled as shared rounds. This means that two races will be run back to back over one weekend. The format will provisionally unfold as the following.
Downhill: Thursday – Qualifying 1, Friday – Race 1 // Saturday – Qualifying 2, Sunday – Race 2.
Cross Country: Tuesday – Short Track 1, Thursday – XCO 1 // Friday – Short Track 2, Sunday – XCO 2.
However these details are still to be confirmed in due course.
2020 Revised World Cup calendar
5-6 September Lenzerheide, Switzerland (XCO/DHI)
12-13 September Val di Sole, Italy (XCO/DHI)
19-20 September Les Gets, France (XCO/DHI)
29 September – 4 October Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic (XCO) – two rounds
5 – 11 October Leogang, Austria, World Championships (XCO/DHI)
15-18 October Maribor, Slovenia (DHI) – two rounds
29 October – 1st November Lousa, Portugal (DHI) – two rounds
I reckon it may be too early to guarantee these will go ahead. Personally I don’t think there will be much travel on the cards in 2020 at all. Whether Athletes will get privileges is hard to tell. I wonder how many spectators will be allowed to watch too.