The downhill and four-cross tracks for the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, are well known to the gravity racers, having been a fixture on the international circuit since the last UCI World Championships held there in 2008.
The trail building team, headed by Pippo Marani, continues to design the downhill track, which is a perfect mix of speed, spectacle and technical sections. The last upgrading of the downhill course - called Black Snake - was carried out in 2015. At that time the track was made 300 metres longer, for a total of 2200 metres, with a 540 metre elevation change and an average gradient of 24.5%.
On the upper section, riders head into a wooded rock garden before a fast flow section with a thrilling road jump. Then it is back into the forest for the Hell section with an impressive wall of rocks and roots before the final Pippo Jump and the last banked left and right turns into the finish. These final turns are deceptively difficult - Australia's Sam Hill went down in a cloud of dust here in 2008, while holding a huge lead that virtually assured him the world title.
The four-cross events take place on the track set up near the final section of the Black Snake. The track was created for the 2008 UCI World Championships, and it is among the most stunning and challenging courses in the world. The 2015 UCI World Championships for four-cross were also held here.
The sequence of jumps, parabolic curves, drops and rocky sections provides a fantastic view for the public watching from the stands. It is the longest circuit of the 4X Pro Tour circuit - the equivalent of the World Cup in four-cross - with the famous Pro Line, a section dedicated to the best pro riders due to three long and treacherous double jumps. The whole event, from the elimination stages to the finals, will take place at night under floodlights.