Organisers of all four rounds of the 2015 UCI Trials World Cup and of the 2015 UCI Trials World Youth Games met at the headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in Aigle, Switzerland, on Thursday. They were joined by the President of the UCI Trials Commission and the UCI Technical Delegates.
As well as going over important points and guidelines for the upcoming season, an award was presented to the organisers of the Antwerp round, voted “best event” of the 2014 UCI Trials World Cup. The Belgian host returns to the World Cup calendar this year, hosting the fourth and final round on September 26 and 27.
The trials discipline will benefit from some changes to the UCI Regulations in 2015, notably:
· Introduction of a National Teams competition at the UCI Trials World Championships and UCI Trials World Youth Games
· Introduction of 1/2 finals in the Women’s category
· Introduction of the Youth Girls class (9-11 years old) at the UCI Trials World Youth Games
· New competition format (reduced from three to two days) for the UCI Trials World Cup.
“The UCI Trials Commission has worked hard to continue improving the attractiveness and popularity of this spectacular discipline,” said UCI Head of Off-Road Peter Van den Abeele. “The national teams’ competition will add a new dimension to our UCI World Championships and UCI World Youth Games. Taking place on the opening day, they will set the scene for the following individual competitions, as is already the case at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.”
Peter Fisch, President of the UCI Trials Commission, added that the shorter UCI Trials World Cup programme would reduce costs for both organisers and riders which in turn should encourage higher participation from the athletes and more interest from potential host cities.
“Finally, the introduction of 1/2 finals for Women and a new Youth Girls class is in line with our desire to develop the women’s competitions which are of an extremely high level,” concluded Mr Van den Abeele.
The modifications to the UCI Regulations for the Trials discipline will be published on the UCI website in the coming weeks.
UCI Trials World Cup calendar:
· Kraków (Poland), May 30-31
· Vöcklabruck (Austria), August 8-9
· Albertville (France), August 22-23
· Antwerp (Belgium), September 26-27
The 2015 UCI Trials World Youth Games will take place in Aywaille (Belgium) on August 1-2, and the 2015 UCI Trials World Championships will take place in La Massana, Andorra, August 31 to September 6.