The UCI have officially declared Dual Slalom dead for 2002. In it’s place will be “4-up” (or Quad Descender).

The idea is to mix the shoulder to shoulder battles of BMX with the speed of Downhill which has proved resoundingly popular in it’s ‘BSX’ format over here. With double the number of riders competing on the same course, rather than separated, parallel runs, racing is much closer and more combattive than Dual. This potentially makes it a far more exciting spectator sport than Dual and stops the problem of coasting finishes. If one rider falls the other three still can’t let up till they cross the line.

The UCI also announced that the number of World Cup races will be cut from 8 to 6 (5 for downhill) and for the first time ever there will be no races in America (but two in Canada), which seems to confirm a continued decline in pro racing as more bike firms and outside sponsors drop teams.

Here’s what’s left of the World Cup schedule after the cut backs.

Cross country No. 1, Madrid, Spain, May 18-19
Cross country No. 2, Houffalize, Belgium, May 25-26
Cross country No. 3 / Downhill-4-up No. 1, Leysin, Switzerland, June 1-2
Downhill-4-up No. 2, Maribor, Slovenia, June 8-9
Cross country No. 4 / Downhill-4-up No. 3, Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, June 29-30
Cross country No. 5 / Downhill-4-up No. 4, Grouse Mountain, British Columbia, July 6-7
Downhill-4-up No. 5, Arai, Japan, July 13-14
Cross country No. 6 / Downhill-4-up No. 6, Les Gets, France, September 7-8