World Cup round 3 kicks off in Leogang, Austria this weekend. DirtTV will be there bright and early from Wednesday to bring you the full low-down on the hoe-down.

In the mean time here’s a few course details and a gloomy weather forecast.

The Leogang course length is 2600m and the course drop is 524m which compared against Maribor (2500m, 448m) and Fort William (2800, 555m) means it has the vital statistics to be a great track, what do you reckon 3 to 4 minutes long?
The course map shows wooded sections and what looks like Old Skool fast open piste sections.

There’s a 4x track in there somewhere.

The Joker Line is looking good unlike the weather forecast below.

Please don’t let the weather be this gloomy!

The schedule of what’s happening when.

The Press Release Bit.

Leogang, Austria, June 9th 2010 – The Leogang Event company, the official host of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup from June 18th to 20th, is proud to present five new official World Cup partners: SalzburgerLand, the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang, Kona Bicycles, the Zipfer brewery and the Raiffeisen Bank Salzburg. Some of the partners can look back to a successful long-time collaboration with the resort Saalfelden Leogang, as well as some of them are new in the mountain bike sport. But they have one thing in common: All of them are looking forward to a promising and exciting sports event as well as to welcome media representatives and mountain bike fans from all over the world in Leogang.

The key benefits of the collaboration between the official partners of the region Saalfelden Leogang are clear: The region and the bike park Leogang look back on a long experience in the mountain bike sport. Andreas Hofmann from Kona Bicycles goes into detail: “We were very happy hearing that Leogang became host of the Austrian UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Leogang and Kona share the same ambition in the bike sport for ten years now: creating innovative and attractive bike park offers. We know the potential of Saalfelden Leogang to create great international events and we can’t wait for an exciting and fair battle for all mountain bike fans during the World Cup in Leogang.”

Leo Bauernberger, managing director of SalzburgerLand Tourism, is looking forward to the upcoming event highlight: “We are proud that the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup visits Leogang, especially after featuring the Mountain Bike World Championships 2002 and the Bike World Championships 2006 in the SalzburgerLand in the past. With this international top event, we can not only underline the standing of the SalzburgerLand as an attractive bike destination, but also gain international awareness for its broad range of bike offers.”

The Raiffeisen Bank Salzburg knows the importance of the bike sport and its sustainability, like Franz Pospischil, head of Marketing Raiffeisen Bank Salzburg, points out: “The Bikepark Leogang is one of a kind attraction and bike tourism is gaining more and more importance in Salzburg. The Raiffeisen Bank Salzburg is a long term partner of the local leisure and tourism industry – owning a big share of the financing market and the related responsibility. Raiffeisen is investing in the regional economic circuit and assists the regional creation of value. Being partner of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Leogang is one of our numerous efforts.”

Wolfgang Breitfuss, director of Saalbach Hinterglemm Tourism, highlights the connection between summer and winter sports in the alps: “The Mountain Bike World Cup is a perfect platform to present our unique winter offers to the numerous sports fans and media representatives from all over the world. Most bike fans are also attracted to the ski and snowboard sport. The UCI World Cup – as one of the biggest sports events in Austria that is also located very close to Saalbach Hinterglemm – is the perfect option to show our competence in winter sports. We feel confident that our commitment will pay out.”

Zipfer, the big Austrian brewery, is also a dedicated partner like its brand manager Thomas Dietachmair says : “Zipfer is happy to be an official partner of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Leogang. Zipfer – Austria’s premium beer brand – is a perfect fit for the world’s best mountain bike riders. Thanks to 150 years of brewing tradition, a very diligent production with best fresh ingredients, Zipfer offers a unique exceptional beer indulgence: A glass of pure joy!“

The official UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Leogang website www.mtb-worldcup.at features all the information related to the event and it’s side program.