The Continental BIKE Festival in Saalfelden Leogang will take a break in 2020 and will not take place as planned from 11 to 13 September. Unfortunately, a festival of this size, which thrives on the colourful hustle and bustle at the exhibition centre and the lively exchange of the international mountain bike scene, is not yet possible again in this form. The new date for the third edition of the mountain bike event has already been set: from 24 to 26 September 2021, the area around the Epic Bikepark Leogang will once again become a meeting point for mountain bikers.
Around 10,000 visitors, 80 exhibitors and 1,000 active participants: the Continental BIKE Festival Saalfelden Leogang with its outdoor trade fair, numerous testing opportunities and sporting races has been a hotspot for the international mountain bike scene since 2018. ‘Until the very end, we hoped to be able to hold the BIKE Festival this year after all and give visitors the opportunity to test brand new bikes for 2021 on the varied trails in and around the Epic Bikepark Leogang,’ says Monika Weber, Event Director of the organising Delius Klasing Verlag. ‘Unfortunately, however, after intensive reviews and discussions with the partners, exhibitors and sponsors involved, we have come to the conclusion that it is not yet possible to organise a festival in the way that the MTB scene has known from our events for many years. The requirements for major events simply restrict our classic festival concept too much,’ Monika Weber continues.
Marco Pointner, Managing Director of Saalfelden Leogang Touristik Gmbh, also regrets having to cancel the festival after all. ‘However, it would only have been possible to hold the festival if we had made extensive changes to the popular festival concept. Instead, we will now concentrate fully on organising the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which will take place from 7 to 11 October 2020. An organisational challenge, as the originally planned double event turned into a quadruple World Championships after the Leogang organisers agreed to take over the cancelled cross country and E-MTB events from Albstadt (GER).’
Good news for all BIKE Festival fans: there is already a new date for next year. The third edition of the Continental BIKE Festival 2021 will take place in Saalfelden Leogang from 24 to 26 September and the organisers are already working flat out to put on a great event with a spectacular programme.
Starting places already booked for one of the races will automatically remain valid for the new date in 2021. Participants can send their questions by email to service@yunique.de.
