The competition was awarded to the Triangle Region following a joint sporting event strategy in which the seven municipalities of the area actively pursued and awarded hosting rights for several major events, including the 2020 World Urban Orienteering Championships and last year's European Badminton Championships.

Jens Ejner Christensen, chairman of the Triangle Region, said: "The host must endeavour to show the very attractive infrastructure we have in the area.

"Outdoor sports like mountain biking are good for us.

"We have some of the country's most scenic areas with large forests and hundreds of kilometres of coastline.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the world's best mountain bikers."

Members of the public will also be given an opportunity to race on the 100 kilometre World Championship track, which starts in the city centre before winding through the local forests and finishing back in the centre.

The course for the 2022 World Championships is said to offer riders "technically difficult stretches, hikes and some straight stretches where there is an opportunity to get speed on the bikes".

President of the Denmark Cycling Federation Henrik Jess Jensen expressed his excitement at the awarding of the event.

"The Danish Cycling Federation is very eager to build on the momentum we have started with off-road biking," he said.

"In 2019, we look forward to welcoming the World Championship in cyclo-cross and we are very happy to welcome the best mountain bikers to Denmark three years later.

"We are experiencing rapid growth in the numbers of mountain bikers, so it is just the right time for us to have an MTB-event of this magnitude in Denmark."

The next UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships will begin in Auronzo, Italy, on September 15, 2018.