Suddenly there's a date: September 4-6, 2026, when Red Bull Cerro Abajo is due to return to Europe. And to ... drum roll ... Stuttgart! The capital of the two-meter rule, as the state capital of Baden-Württemberg is also known, is to become a downhill arena. Sounds like an April Fool's joke in January.  

Cerro Abajo is what Red Bull calls its series of city downhill races, which it has been holding in Latin American cities for years. The best-known race is the one in Valparaiso, Chile. 2025 saw the European premiere in Genoa. Targeting Germany now makes economic sense. However, given the headwind that mountain biking is still facing, especially in Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart is a venue that is causing outright disbelief among some. "Something cool in Stuttgart? I don't think so for now," writes one commentator. "cool cool cool" another.

Rumors of a Cerro Abajo event in Stuttgart have been circulating since autumn, but nothing more was known about it. The date has been in the UCI's event calendar for a few days. And even after that, nobody knew anything concrete. Neither Red Bull nor the city confirmed anything.

There is already a route plan

In the meantime, the Stuttgarter Zeitung has found out that a possible route plan has been presented to the city's South District Advisory Council. According to the plan, the start could be in Weissenburgpark in the south of the city, from whose vantage point you can look down on the city. The course would then wind its way through another park called Bopseranlage, then through the Heusteigviertel to finish at the centrally located Wilhelmsplatz. Mtb-news has published the potential route plan.  

Located in a steep valley basin, the city definitely has the relief for a spectacular downhill route through parks, narrow streets and stairs. However, the newspaper title "Will Red Bull let mountain bikers race through Stuttgart?" also betrays skepticism about the spectacle in a city that has struggled for decades with mountain bikers' love of steep, narrow trails. Resistance to the project is almost certain. Just think of the endless discussions before and after the UCI Cycling World Championships in Zurich. Cerro Abajo will at least only last a weekend. But the debate about it has only just begun.