In an ironic twist of fate (or at least vocabulary) the UCI has eliminated the Cross-Country Eliminator (XCE) races from the 2015 calendar. With a growing number of top racers choosing to skip the XCE races to save themselves for the XCO main event later in the weekend and the UCI and promoters apparently not making any money from the event (always a motivating factor), it’s really no surprise. The format had its pros and cons, fans and detractors from the first race.
As far as I’m concerned I could take it or leave it. I often found myself watching it, but I’m special kinds of sucker for cycling on TV and would probably watch clowns race unicycles if it was on. I still believe that a shorter, spectator friendly event (short track, eliminator or as the Whiskey Off Road does, a mountain bike crit in the days before) could be good for the sport and promoters (see the blog post Bringing The Mountain To The People for more unsolicited opinion on all that).
From what I have read, World Cup race promoters will still have the chance to host an XCE race if they choose, and for now the XCE will still be part of the World Championship event, but as a rule the Eliminator has been eliminated. While I am sure that 99.999% of American mountain bike racers and fans could care less and 90% of XCO racers are happy, I can’t help but sort of, almost feel sorry for the muscle bound, sprinter types that are so often lapped and pulled during the XCO events, but excelled at the Eliminator. What are they supposed to do now, race track??
See the complete list of 2015 UCI Mountain Bike events at www.UCI.ch.