The 17 Biggest Mountain Biking Competitions of 2017

The 2017 mountain bike season kicks off in New Zealand this weekend and Red Bull have issued a 2017 calendar of the big events, including all Crankworx stages, all of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup events and several of the big one-off events of the season such as the Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme and Red Bull Rampage which brings the mountain bike calendar to a climax.

25 March-2 April – Crankworx, Rotorua, New Zealand

Billed as ‘Gravity Down Under’, it is the first of four Crankworx events scheduled on the 2017 calendar.

29-30 April – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Lourdes, France (downhill)

The World Cup downhill season begins in Lourdes with the clock already ticking to the event.

20-21 May – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic (cross-country)

It was on this course last year that Annika Langvad was crowned world champion winning by over a minute while Nino Schurter edged out his chasers by just 17 seconds after nearly 90 minutes of racing.

27-28 May – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Albstadt, Germany (cross-country)

Olympic champion Schurter was victorious here a year ago during the best season of his career, in which he also won a fifth world title.

3-4 June – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, Scotland (downhill)

Both Rachel Atherton and Greg Minnaar will be looking for a hat-trick of victories on the Scottish course 13 years on from Minnaar’s first win at the venue.

10-11 June – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Leogang, Austria (downhill)

Unsurprisingly, it was another win for Atherton here, the Briton clinching all seven World Cup races during the course of a dominant season.

14-18 June – Crankworx, Les Gets, France

This will be Crankworx’s sixth year in the Alps and the five-day festival will see everything from jaw-dropping rides to parties.

21-25 June – Crankworx, Innsbruck, Austria

The Crankworx riders this time get airborne in Austria with the penultimate round from some of the mountain bike elite.

1-2 July – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Vallnord, Andorra (cross-country/downhill)

The Andorran ski resort brought the curtain down on the 2016 World Cup but has been brought forward by two months from its previous September date.

8-9 July – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland (cross-country/downhill)

Schurter overcame coming unclipped from his pedals at the start to edge out rival Julien Absalon the year before.

18 July-10 August – Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme, Russia

An ultra-stage bicycle race, it sets off from Moscow and involves 14 stages in 24 days before reaching the finale in Vladivostok.

5-6 August – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada (cross-country/downhill)

Briton’s Danny Hart, known as the Redcar Rocket, won the men’s downhill while Absalon clinched the cross-country with Schurter absent as part of his Olympic preparations.

11-20 August – Crankworx/Red Bull Joyride, Whistler, Canada

Downhill, slopestyle and endure legends converge on the Canadian ski resort with a 10 day celebration of mountain biking

26-27 August – UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Val di Sole, Italy (cross-country/downhill)

Both disciplines’ fields converge on Val di Sole for the World Cup Finals at the end of this summer.

5-10 September – UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, Cairns, Australia (cross-country/downhill)

The four major defending champions in north Australia will be Schurter and Langvad in the cross-country, with British duo Hart and Atherton in the downhill.

22-24 September – Red Bull Hardline, Wales, UK

The world’s toughest timed downhill MTB course returns for its 4th year.

27 October – Red Bull Rampage, Utah, United States

The red rocks of Utah offer riders their stiffest test as freestylers, freeriders and downhillers purvey their best tricks.