With the 2017 IDF season starting early next year riders from around the world are looking for some info to pack their bags and get tickets booked. We are super excited about the Asian Ring of Fire. But of course, everyone is expecting to get the full season info and not unlike a UN Climate Change conference the IDF has been on a no sleep operation banging away in the background to get all the events across the world lined up for a super 2017 World Tour. Under this pressure cooker environment we have decided to announce the general framework of the tour now and will fill in the gaps in the coming fortnight
Season overlook
The first major change in the schedule will be that the South American trip will take part just after ASIA, in May and June, instead of, October/November as in the past years. This decision was made for 2 main reasons : avoiding the rainy season in most South American countries, and shortening the overall length of the season so that riders can really focus their efforts in a shorter period of time allowing them to perform but still maintain their regular educational/professional activity.
So the flow of the 2017 IDF season will look like the following:
The 2017 World Tour will be moving to a 6 World Cup format, to ensure that quality is our first target, and selecting the best events only, is a way to achieve that goal. The 2017 World Rankings will be based on the 6 best races with a maximum of 4 World Cups counting in Open category, and 5 best results with a maximum of 3 WC in other disciplines.
South America :
Right now we still have issues to finalize all the dates, but we will have 1 World Cup in South America and likely 5 WQS events. It South American tour will run through May and June
Europe:
For all those fans of big mountain roads and weird singing contests the European Tour is now set in stone. This will be a 4 race leg with an even split of World Cup and WQS events. The European Tour will launch with a big World Cup event in Austria and organized by Big Mountain Skate (co-organizers of Almabtrieb WQS last year, but also Loralo, Alpenrausch et..). the road is a killer one, and BMS is already working hard to deliver a world class event with all of the IDF quality requirements in place. Following on from King's Gate will be the Kozakov Challenge in the Czech republic where the mountain and the party will battle for top spot. Just missing out this year for a World Cup prize but with valuable WQS points in the offing will be Verdicchio, organized by Federico Barboni and his crew, these guys have proved in the past their ability to deliver a great experience to riders and a kick ass event. The final event on the European tour will be Teolo where rainbow flags and bottles of vino will give way to hectic mountain racing to decide who will be the king of the European Tour in 2017
North America
In the USA Killington is back on the tour and will the North American continents World Cup event, under the supervision of Mike Girard and his crew Killington is an event you should not miss. We are looking to finalize a newer WQS race in Canada along with a Mexican event but are just awaiting rock solid confirmation.
With 6 World Cups and 12 WQS events the IDF World Tour 2017 will be an action packed series......Get your bags ready! the seasons about to start!
