Signal Hill will be the backdrop for the opening round of a new international continental mountainbiking series early next year.
Dunedin’s round of the Mountain Bike New Zealand XCO national round will be part of the new Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) series offering a pathway for riders to qualify for world cups.
The new series will feature 12 events in the Americas, nine in Europe and seven in Oceania.
Dunedin will host the Oceania opener at Signal Hill on January 11.
The series will then move up the road to Coronet Peak for a DHI event on January 19, before heading to Christchurch on February 14-16 for another DHI event.
Canberra will host XCO and DHI events on March 1-2.
Rotorua will host a DHI series on March 5-9 and the Oceania leg finishes in Cairns on April 21-25.
The continental series will provide riders from the different continents with new opportunities to qualify for the UCI world cups, which are part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
A rider finishing in the top five of a continental series event will be eligible to participate in a round of the world series, while the top five riders in the overall standings of the various continental series will have the right to participate in all rounds of the series in the following season.
These additional opportunities will contribute to the global expansion of the discipline.
— APL
