December 11, 2008 (Aigle, Switzerland) – A seminar over three days (9-11 December) brought together organisers of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano at the World Cycling Centre (WCC), the headquarters of the International Cycling Union (UCI) in Aigle, Switzerland. Also participating in the meeting were the series sponsors, Presidents of the Commissaires’ Panels appointed for each event, UCI Technical Delegates and the designers of the 4-cross tracks of the different rounds.

On the first day, the Presidents of the Commissaires’ Panels and Technical Delegates met to discuss sporting aspects of the World Cup.

A plenary session was held the following day. The organisers of new rounds of the series at La Bresse (France), Champéry (Switzerland) and Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) presented their events. The themes of sport, events, marketing and television were then discussed with a view to improving the races of the series.

Finally, the third day was dedicated to a series of workshops that allowed each organiser to individually consult with the Technical Delegates, 4-cross track designers, sponsors and UCI representatives.

During the seminar, the UCI President Pat McQuaid presented the awards that had been announced on 31 October for the best events of the 2008 World Cup. Richard Deslandes, Mike Jardine and Alex Köstler, representatives of the Organising Committees of Bromont (Canada), Fort William (Great Britain) and Offenburg (Germany), received their awards for 4-cross, downhill and Olympic cross-country respectively.

The 2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup will comprise 12 rounds. The first event takes place on 11 April at Pietermaritzburg (RSA). The final event of the series will be held at Schladming (AUT) on 20 September.