The controversy in cyclo-cross due to the irregular participation of the best riders in the CX World Cup, whose general classification is disdained by most given the great extension of the competition that runs from mid-October to the end of January, continues after the UCI’s commitment to internationalize it.
A few months ago, when we were in the middle of the CX season, the UCI announced that it was studying a series of measures in order to promote a CX World Cup that very few cyclists face in its entirety as it extends for more than three months. Something that has been to the benefit of other circuits more concentrated in time such as the Superprestigio or the X2O.
In the quest to regain the limelight, the UCI has just announced at last what these measures will be and that they will come into force from March 1. New rules that will surely bring tails, starting with the prohibition to all riders who are in the Top 20 of the UCI ranking to participate in national category races, so that they have no choice but to face UCI category races.
Another change that will surely not be to everyone’s liking is that when it comes to configuring the starting grids of each race, only the general classification of that championship will be taken into account, reserving the first two rows for the best classified riders of the event and not the UCI ranking as before.
This will make it very difficult for riders who only do a reduced cyclocross campaign such as Pidcock, Van Aert or Van der Poel to start from the front lines in any race and, on the other hand, the only way to start from the first places will be to be well classified in that particular event, which is intended to encourage more riders to pay attention to the overall rankings.
In addition, the UCI has created the label of “protected event” which will be granted to a maximum of 50% of the CX World Cup races, only to those of special importance for the competition. A protection that will consist in that the UCI can veto the dispute of any other race held the day before or the same day as one of these protected events.
The highest cycling body ends with a final rule that obliges all UCI category teams to present at least one rider in at least five of the races that make up the CX World Cup.
On the other hand, the UCI Professional teams will have to be present in all the races that make up the CX World Cup with at least three riders. A measure that tries to mitigate cases such as the start in the United States, which is often ignored by many riders and teams.
Source: www.brujulabike.com