The world’s best mountain bike riders are heading to Greg Minnaar’s backyard for 2009.

The UCI World Cup will host its opening round of 2009 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, hometown of Minnaar, the 2003 world downhill champ. It’s the first time since 1998 that South Africa has hosted a World Cup round.

The April 11-12, 2009, Pietermaritzburg World Cup features the big three of mountain bike racing — cross-country, downhill and four cross.

The event falls two weeks after the UCI-sanctioned Absa Cape Epic stage race, a nine-day cross-country race across South Africa’s Western Cape. In recent years the Cape Epic has come to attract a wide range of the world’s top cross-country riders.

“The hope is that teams will come for the Cape Epic and then stay for [the World Cup],” said Peter Vandenabeele, the UCI mountain-bike coordinator. “We want to have it two weeks after the Cape Epic because riders are too tired the week after that race and need some rest.”

Pietermartzburg is a city of a half million residents and is the capital of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, located on South Africa’s eastern coast.

World Cup will return to tried-and-true venues in Offenburg, Germany; Houffalize, Belgium; Madrid, Spain; Fort William, Scotland and Mont-Ste-Anne, Québec next year. The world championships will move to Canberra, Australia, only the third time that mountain biking’s biggest annual event will be held outside of Europe or North America.

2009 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

April
11-12 Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (XC, DH, 4X)
25-26 Offenburg, Germany (XC)

May
2-3 Houffalize, Belgium (XC, 4X)
9-10 TBA
16-17 Vallnord, Andorra (DH, 4X)
23-24 Madrid, Spain (XC)

June
6-7 Fort William, Scotland (DH, 4X)
20-21 Maribor, Slovenia (DH, 4X)

July
25-26 Mont-Ste-Anne, Québec (XC, DH, 4X)

August
1-2 TBA

September
1-6 World Championships Canberra, Australia (XC, DH, 4X)
12-13 Champéry, Switzerland (XC)
19-20 Schladming, Austria (XC, DH, 4X)