Crankworx has announced the European leg of its tour will take place in Les Gets next year.

The European stop of the tour has taken place in Les Duex Alpes for the past two years to co-incide with the Megavalanche, but will now move to a brand new venue in the form of Les Gets. The five day festival will take place on June 15-19, the week before the Passportes Du Soleil enduro event.

Crankworx is a touring mountain bike festival that encourages a lighter side to mountain bike competition. Events normally include: downhill races, enduro races slopestyle events, dual speed and style, pump track races and whip off World Championships.

Les Gets is part of the Portes du Soleil region and a very popular resort for British mountain bikers as it offers 95 kilometres of bike trails  and is only an hour’s drive from the Geneva airport.

It also offers lift access to nearby resorts such as Morzine, Avoriaz and Champery, giving it the classic Crankworx touch: a place to ride great trails alongside the best riders in the world.

Les Gets will have to undergo a lot of preparation for the event as Crankworx as it currently lacks a slopestyle course fit for the event. There used to be a large slopestyle event in Chatel but this has been sidelined in recent years.

Aside from the annual Passportes du Soleil, Les Gets has not hosted a major bike event since the World Championships were held on the Mont Chery side of the valley in 2004. The event was infamous for Steve Peat’s crash within sight of the finish line that handed the win to Fabien Barel.

Darren Kinnaird, Crankworx World Tour general manager, said: “This is a location steeped in the culture and history of our sport and we are thrilled to be adding the region to the World Tour.”

Crankworx will remain at Rotorua (March 9-13, 2016) and it marquee event in Whistler for a 10-day event (August 12-21). All the events will also be live streamed online.