We speculated last week that Red Bull would celebrate the tenth year of Hardline, the most hardcore and best downhill mountain bike race by launching a brand new Red Bull Hardline MTB event. After this year's cancellation, Red Bull has now confirmed that Hardline will celebrate its anniversary in style, returning to the unforgiving terrain of the Dyfi Valley in Wales on June 1st and 2nd next year, and for the first time, Hardline will venture beyond its renowned UK location, to make a debut down under as it visits Tasmania, Australia. The date being penciled in for the 23rd and 24th of February 2024 for this exciting brand new event and expansion of the much loved downhill event.
Hardline takes place, as always, on the course designed and built by Dan Atherton, hosted by Atherton Racing, and the build team of the UK course including Dan and brother Gee Atherton will head to Australia to take the Red Bull Hardline spirit to Tasmania.
As yet it's unclear on the details of the new Tasmania 2024 Red Bull Hardline event. However, as we reported the Red Bull Screening Room site had given some clues to the possible format saying, "Twenty of the world’s best and bravest riders will be put to the test in this one-of-a-kind race series. The iconic Wales edition will return for its 10-year anniversary in June. And we are busy working on the expansion [Tasmania] of our most established downhill event."
It would appear that the same invited riders will compete at both events and perhaps an overall winner of the mini-series will be declared or perhaps it'll be two unique winners. Whatever the final format, riders are sure to be fired up to take the win at the first ever edition of the expanded series.
Also confirmed is the return of the female downhill riders, with the likes of Tahnée Seagrave at the forefront of creating an environment for an incredible group of talented and eager female athletes to take on the challenges of the Red Bull Hardline course. Female riders sessioned the Hardline course before the cancellation this year in the Dyfi Valley. The 2024 edition will continue to provide a platform for the best female downhill bike riders to test and progress towards piecing together a full course, across both events in the UK and Australia.
Tickets for the event in Wales on June 1st and 2nd are available at Redbull.com. There you can also find out more on the details for Tasmania and stay up to date on all the latest information on Red Bull Hardline including rider announcements.