Video: Maribor Bidding for 2019 DH World Cup Round

Sep 19, 2018
by Pinkbike Staff  

We've just heard that Maribor are bidding to hold a round of the 2019 UCI DH World Cup on the latest iteration of the famous track.

Maribor last held a UCI DH World Cup in 2010 on the highly popular DH race track with its iconic rock garden. At the final World Cup race in Maribor, Greg Minnaar and Rachel Atherton took the win down the course in 3:23 and 4:03 respectively.

The latest race held at Maribor was the final round of the 2018 Unior Downhill Cup that was won by Czech rider Stanislav Sehnal (Kellys Factory Team) and Slovenian Špela Horvat (BeFly World Team) with times pretty close to the 2010's world cup winners - 3:26 (Sehnal) and 4:15 (Horvat).

Speculation is rife about where the 2019 World Cup is heading with hopes that there will be more fresh venues.

Click here to see the provisional dates for next year's DH World Cup.

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78 Comments
  • 65 1
 Maribor, schladming, Champery, Val di Sole, Fort Bill, Mont Saint Anne, Andorra!!
  • 6 0
 ...and Losinj early in the year, so we could go on shor vacay before late spring and summer! Big Grin
  • 4 0
 Schladming gets a new Gondola in 2019 and the bikepark will be closed the whole year....
  • 2 0
 @Baghira: true, unfortunately...
  • 2 0
 That would be good and they're all ace tracks, but it would be more of a European series rather than world?
  • 5 0
 Fort Bill track needs a change in my opinion.
  • 6 0
 instead of 6 races lets do 10, idc where they are, as long as redbull continues to broadcast. itd be nice having a season where riders could actually come back after an injury, 6 races is just enough to get warmed up and then its over!
  • 32 1
 bring back Schladming as well
  • 2 0
 Going to struggle with that one next year
  • 25 0
 Bring back Champery too!!!!
  • 1 0
 Sadly there weren't any races the last year but now in 2018 a small bike festival started again with an enduro race: www.bikeandsoundfestival.ch
  • 2 0
 Fun fact, Champery is 20min drive from UCI headquarters...
  • 3 0
 @winko: well where's the holiday for UCI officials in that? No wonder they can't get a world cup. #moveChamperyToBarbados
  • 17 1
 Paris, Milan, New York
  • 30 0
 Peckham
  • 2 0
 Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Paris.
  • 12 1
 Barrow In Furness
  • 4 0
 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Cleveland, Ohio Fountain Valley Bear Mountain, Eugene, OR, Eureka, CA Hesperia Santa Barbara, Cuyamca, Nevada, Phoenix, Arizona San Diego, Lakeland, Florida Let it burn, let it burn.
  • 8 0
 Rode here this year and the track is still wild. The off piste stuff there is insane super similar to Pleny. Then 15mins down the rode in Ruse there's an incredible trail network that we raced on for the SloEnduro. If it does come back to WC circuit couldn't recommend a better road trip destination to experience Slovenias best riding!
  • 8 1
 Hope to see Maribor, but also Whistler in a world cup circuit in 2019. If I could pick, then Champéry, Schladming, Whistler, Andorra, MSA, Lourdes and something in New Zealand should be cool to watch.
  • 3 0
 Whistler would likely be 2020 and beyond, they are just starting work on the track and I doubt it would be complete before next summer, then they need to hold some test events to see how the track runs, infrastructure etc... likely use it for a BC or Canada Cup next summer and maybe Crankworx? I expect they would put in a bid for 2-3 World Cups + World Champs.
  • 11 5
 Lots of comments here naming places the WC should re-visit.
Can I just say a big NOOOOOO!!!!

WC needs new places, every year. Absolutely NOT the same old venues year after year please.
So please don't "bring back Schladming/Champery/Fort Bill/MSA" or wherever.

That's why riders like Sam Hill left - going to the same places every year is super DULL
  • 5 0
 I want to see US host a World Cup or champs event. It’s been a minute. Like come on, mammoth bid for a spot. I mean they did have Arron Gwin help develop a new race track recently. Losinj was nice because it was different, rather than what looks like the same dirt across 7 countries. So a little anti grip won’t hurt these pro DH riders.
  • 2 0
 I think there are many who would like to host a wc race, the problem is paying for it. It costs north of 100k, no way you can cover that with only sponsors so usually its some local organization who pays (for example thats why fort william has "visit scotland" banners everywhere). I'd say most venues simply cannot justify such investment...
  • 7 0
 Add 2 more WC rounds please!
  • 6 1
 They should take a good look at killington VT. That track for the us open was very World Cup worthy. And at 5 plus minutes!
  • 1 0
 I live in the northeast and love killington but that didn't feel wc worthy. I was able to blast down it in the wet on my enduro bike. the mountain would be prime for it but they would for sure need a harder and steeper trail.
  • 1 0
 It would be sick if they added a couple of Northeast US/Canada dates for sure. Killington is definitely capable of hosting such an event and definitely has the terrain available to create a world class track. I'm not sure why Bromont was back on the schedule and dropped off quickly. I guess the mountain has to WANT a world cup and their summer operations are already pretty robust. They probably don't really want it that badly.
  • 1 0
 @grundletroll: are referring to goat skull or the US open track? The US open track is only open for races.
  • 1 0
 Goat skull wasn't that hard of a trail but the usopen track was pretty gnarly in a few parts. I would say that's World Cup ready track @vtracer:
  • 6 0
 Reminds me I'd also like to see Meribel host again
  • 2 0
 Me too mate. But at a french national round this year I heard the rumour that Meribel wasn't interrested at all to host another WC. The coast of hosting a round is so expansive and the economic spinoff wasn't great in 2014.. that's a shame cause thats the best world cup track type in the country with Les carroz (to small resort for hosting a wc) and the new Morzine race track (we hoping for a round here next year or in 2020)

Lourdes track was always popular, but that's wasn't a favourite like meribel . But yeah in Lourdes the fact that there a city at the bottom of the track is good for saturday night, and a good old club with a drunk CG is entertaining .. lol
  • 1 0
 Losinj did not have a chairlift with the amount of actual racers i think wales has more than adequate uplift systems in place Dave Pearce proving very fast uplifts for up to 300 riders a day I think wales could easily host a wc I am sure riders would rather get in a landy and have a sick track than chairlift with a boring shit tracked used for ten years plus in a row.
  • 4 3
 DH WC should stage at least 10 venues a year. Is it such a big thing for the hosts? I can´t imagine. Could someone please explain it?

US, Canada, NZ, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Russia, Argentina, Japan, China...you just need a track and maybe a gondola
  • 6 3
 ...and loads of space, loads of money, good infrastructure, helpers, experience in hosting events like that and who knows what else. So yeah, it's so simple. You should go ahead and host a WC race.
  • 4 0
 @Muckal: I have a nice 45 second hill in my back yard and my mom and dad will shuttle riders in our truck. times will be super close and exciting. give me a buzz uci, I have about $12.37 to cover all those fees as well
  • 1 0
 @Muckal: You could use almost any old WC oder Olympic venue from the past and the experience is already there from local DH series races. Infrastructure and space have any ski region with a gondola. Is there a big difference from host an European oder US series DH race to WC? I don´t think so but maybe I´m completely wrong ?!
  • 4 0
 @dh-corn: Yes. There's rules on track length, track running time, uplift riders per hour (whether chairlift of truck), types and amounts of accommodation (particularly for the UCI hotel) and finally a big chunk of $$ owed to the UCI for the "privilege" of keeping their series alive. The venues have to approach the UCI not the other way around, and the UCI makes it incredibly difficult and expensive; effectively keeping bids to a minimum.
  • 1 0
 Looking forward to seeing the selection for the European plus 1 Token Venue Cup. Solution? Add 1-2 more races to the calendar. Everyone wins.

1-0 to EWS on varying the locations.
  • 3 0
 Make the world cup a WORLD cup again. Last thing we need is another stop in Europe.
  • 3 1
 Maribor, Schladming, Val di Sole, Ft. Williams and Lourdes for Europe. Let's hope!
  • 18 9
 Ft. William should be on the "good bye" list. That track is so blah. If there's a race in the UK, it should be somewhere in Wales.
  • 13 3
 @ka-brap: Yeah what's that place in Wales with the chairlift and adequate facilities called
  • 5 0
 @ka-brap: Innerliethen needs that chairflift! World cup there instead of Fort Bill?
  • 1 0
 @ka-brap: It is true that track is not friendly, or nice to riders/bikes. But I think that may be why it is such a good race track?

When the pros are still crashing and the times have a decent spread to them then it makes for exiting racing and maybe shouldn't be dismissed.
  • 8 1
 Everyone loves the home tracks, and the UK certainly has a strong love affair with it, so I was expecting this comment to get hated on BUT in the world of steep, natural, technical tracks... Ft. Bill ain't it. It's a rough track that is more of an endurance test rather than a technical skill test. If you were to build your ideal track, no one would draw up Ft. Bill. And since we're dreaming of ideal tracks that the calendar should be made up of, we should want to go elsewhere. "Good racing" will happen anywhere- the caliber of racers will guarantee that this is the case. The calendar should be made up of tracks that have actual dirt, multiple line options, steep gnar, high speed sections, jumps, etc. and Ft. Bill is lacking in many of these points.

@fatduke As Cairns has proven, you don't need a chairlift to have a successful WC venue.
  • 3 0
 @ka-brap: maybe I’m in the minority but ft William is one of my favorites to watch every year. Sure it may involve a lot of endurance, but that’s ok. I think the WC circuit should have variety.
  • 5 2
 Maribor, Rotorua, Cairns, Lithgow and Werribee
  • 2 0
 Throw in a round in Queenstown, worth it after coming all this way south.
  • 3 0
 Crankworks Rotovegas followed by opening round of WC in Queenstown!!
  • 5 0
 Mt Druitt, Compton and Baghdad.
  • 3 0
 That's a WC worthy looking DH track...
  • 1 0
 Isn’t this pretty late in the year for them to still be deciding venues? Isn’t the full schedule usually released by now?
  • 1 0
 No it isn't usually out by now
  • 1 0
 @Treehouse15: 2018 venues were announced on the 21st of September last year
  • 1 0
 @JosHan: I must just be thinking of when they release the dates.
  • 1 0
 @sino428: yeah the dates were announced back in April I think
  • 1 0
 @JosHan: was going to be asking the same question but you'vek kind of answered it, cheers. Guess we can hope for some news about 2019 fairly soon
  • 1 0
 @JosHan: guess I was wrong...slightly
  • 2 0
 This looks like the most fun track ever.
  • 2 0
 Isn’t Morzine a strong contender for a round next year?
  • 2 0
 Lets not change any venues...just add them!!
  • 1 0
 Yo @gopro!
Hand those guys a new hero 7; I‘m kinda dizzy after watching this clip...
  • 2 0
 Bring back Arai Mountain!
  • 3 0
 Why not Holland?
  • 1 1
 Some new stops would be nice. China, canada and peru. I dont know just something new and not the old tracks in europe once again
  • 2 0
 Tottenham Lordship loop
  • 1 0
 Maybe together with @The4XProTour or 4cross.eu?
  • 1 0
 Please please have 10 rounds.how about a tamed down hard line track
  • 1 0
 I pefer that cool course instead of the “backyard trail”@La Bresse Wink
  • 1 0
 Come on let’s see windham again, that was a sick track
  • 1 0
 Bring the ol' 2004 Calgary COP world cup course!
  • 1 1
 Where can i watch the Video at once? This player is just crap.
  • 1 0
 Go to the "Unior Downhill Cup" Facebook page and it should be the latest video
  • 1 0
 @ClickG: Thx.
Here the link for all with the same problem:
www.facebook.com/UniorDownhillCup/videos/2133637940297318
Really long and rough track.
  • 1 0
 Awesome
  • 1 0
 MORE RACES PLEASE
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