UCI president Pat McQuaid has admitted mountain biking must change its image or risk being excluded from the Olympic schedule.

London 2012 organisers have collaborated with the UCI to design a course at Hadleigh Farm which will increase mountain biking’s appeal to television viewers – a key factor in the International Olympic Committee’s decision on what sports to get the axe.

Softball and baseball were cut in 2005, while golf and rubgy sevens are set for inclusion at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016.

Bikemagic’s tour of Hadleigh Farm in October revealed much of the 5.1km course is on open hillside – with only one short woodland section – allowing spectators to view multiple parts of the route from one spot.

With Hadleigh Castle and the Thames Estuary serving as a scenic backdrop, organisers have plumbed for a location which also aims draw in TV viewers.

And McQuaid believes the sport is riding in last chance saloon and could be facing its last Games unless the right formula is struck.  

“It’s an Olympic discipline, and it’s very important that it remains an Olympic discipline; so we have to take note of the evaluations that the International Olympic Committee do, because the Olympic Games belong to the IOC,” he told VeloNews.  

“If mountain biking is presented in a way that is not attractive to the public and television then it risks its position on the Olympic programme.

“There’ll be another evaluation of that program in 2013, so we have until then to make mountain biking more attractive to television in particular.”

Hadleigh Farm drew praise from the UCI’s technical delegate Peter Van den Abeele during a visit in October but McQuaid insists more must be done to increase the discipline’s mass appeal.

“By its nature and its traditional presentation, mountain biking is the most difficult and most expensive to produce for television in the Olympic program,” the former professional road racer added. 

“In Athens, for instance, there were 45 television cameras needed to cover the mountain bike course.

“We have since reduced the distance of mountain bike courses somewhat, but it still needs to be made into a more attractive discipline.

“I have great respect for the athletes because it’s an extremely hard discipline, but it doesn’t come across on television like that.

“We don’t want to turn into cyclo-cross, which is an attractive sport, but we do need to make changes.”