Papendal in the Netherlands and Roc D’Azur in France will both be hosting 4X ProTour events for the first time in 2016.
The Papendal event will run in tandem with the BMX Supercross World Cup this weekend, while we’ll have to wait until October to see the new French venue brought to the table by ProTour rider Cedric Lloren.
The first round will be run on the same track as Joost Wichman‘s Pump Battle Series, that’s right, the first round of the 4X ProTour will actually be run on a pump track with two riders at a time. But really it’s more of a warm up for the main series as the results won’t count towards the overall.
Two weeks later the series returns to the Dirtmasters festival in Germany for the first round of proper racing. Then it’s on to Fort William for round three to coincide with the UCI World Cup.
Round Four will be held at the JBC Bikepark in the Czech Republic on what is considered to be one of the best 4x tracks in the world and is famous for it’s 8,000 strong crowds and Michal Marosi’s bonkers wallride overtake.
The series will conclude in October at the Roc D’Azur bike festival held in Frejus. ProTour rider Cedric Lloren has worked all winter to secure this event that will showcase 4X to a totally new audience.
Quentin Derbier was the king of the tour in 2015 but will face a tough challenge from Tomas Slavik who returns from injury this year. British hopes will rest on stalwart Scott Beaumont or 19-year-old Luke Cryer who took silver at last year’s World Championships.
Helene Fruhwirth will be the racer to beat in the women’s category but you can expect Natasha Bradley and Heather Kay to be charging hard in her wake. The overall results will be decided by a rider’s best three results (excluding the Netherlands) so expect the racing to be fierce all summer long.
Full Calendar:
Round 1 May 7th Papendal, The Netherlands
Round 2 May 15th Winterberg, Germany
Round 3 June 4th Fort William, Scotland
Round 4 July 16th Jablonec, Czech Republic
Round 5 October 8th Roc D’Azur, France
