If you haven’t heard, Nissan has dropped its sponsorship of the UCI World Cup Mountain Bike Series for 2010, leaving it without a major title sponsor to pay the bills.  As such, the UCI has dropped pretty much every event outside of Europe and Canada.  Apparently, the only reason the U.S. is getting one (after several years of being left off their calendar) is because Canada’s hosting the World Championships just a few days later.  Good thing they’re so close to us!
The news came as a huge disappointment to Pietermaritzburg, host of the inaugural 2009 event after race organizers there pulled out all the stops to wow both racers and the UCI.  They felt certain they had put themselves on the permanent calendar after such a great show. (Related links here and here)
