4X FOREVER!

the next big thing in mountain biking, four-cross racing’s mid-2000s heyday saw riders of the calibre of Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Anne-Caroline Chausson and Gee and Dan Atherton bang elbows on the start line with specialists like Brian Lopes, Jared Graves and Jill Kintner. At the end of 2011, however, this exciting sport was unceremoniously dropped from the World Cup calendar. It has continued to make a slightly incongruous annual appearance at the MTB World Champs, and occasionally pops up on our social feeds in the form of the lower-profile 4X ProTour, but has largely disappeared from view. Under the surface, however, a devoted scene has continued to bubble away. With the news that the ProTour is growing to eight rounds this year, the final two to be held alongside the DH and XC World Cup finals in Italy, we figured it was high time to revisit the past of this most spectator-friendly of race disciplines, catch up with where it