The opening spherical of the 2024-25 UCI Cyclocross World Cup arrives this Sunday in Antwerp, with world champion Fem van Empel and European champion Thibau Nys among the many huge stars set to take the beginning.
The largest names on the lads’s facet, present world champion Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tim Pidcock, will not be current at the beginning in Belgium as they proceed to race closely lowered ‘cross calendars earlier than the highway season begins.
It is the primary spherical of a lowered World Cup calendar, down from 14 races to 12 and with no USA spherical for the primary time since 2015 when the Las Vegas race introduced the World Cup exterior of Europe for the primary time.
It is also a a lot later begin to the headline cyclocross sequence which had kicked off in October for the previous few years and September previous to 2019 when it was reformed and expanded.
The modifications make up a part of the UCI’s try to make the World Cups extra enticing for riders after drama unfolded final season when some opted to skip non-Belgian or Dutch rounds in favour of Superprestige or X2O Trofee sequence races near the game’s heartland.
That saga began when Nys sparked a response from UCI President David Lappartient in dialog with DirectVelo, after the Belgian skipped the World Cup in Dendermonde on Sunday, November 12, citing tiredness, regardless of participating within the Superprestige race in Niel the day prior.
“If a rider prefers to trip a nationwide occasion throughout World Cup rounds, you will not trip the next World Cup rounds and due to this fact you will not trip the World Championships,” mentioned Lappartient.
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“The World Cup is just not a contest in which you’ll be able to choose and select as you please. Each rider has to play the sport.”
This prompted an additional response from riders and workforce managers with the primary complaints being that the World Cup’s present format is just too giant and never match for function in step with the remainder of the calendar. Groups are pressured to select and select, typically choosing the easier-to-attend races in Belgium over the rounds of the World Cup within the USA, Eire and Spain, on account of price.
With the reshuffled sequence about to start out, the UCI have pulled again barely from Lappartient’s menace, nonetheless, they will not be afraid to penalise riders ought to the brand new format not alleviate their concern with rounds being skipped.
“If we see that the development continues and that rule is being performed with, then we will play it even more durable and see if we will take even harder measures,” mentioned UCI sports activities director Peter Van den Abeele to Het Nieuwsblad.
“However in all honesty: I do not assume that might be essential. I believe that the puzzle that now lies forward is one that everybody can agree on. I actually do not perceive that as a full-time cyclo-cross rider, you would not trip all the pieces. I discover that very troublesome to simply accept.
“We do certainly wish to contain the riders extra within the UCI World Cup and encourage them to participate within the rounds.”
To assist cease riders from skipping races, sure rounds of the World Cup may even have “protected occasion” standing from the UCI, to “promote balanced participation within the occasions on the UCI Cyclo-cross Worldwide Calendar” because the self-discipline makes an attempt to widen its areas of participation.
World Cups in Dublin, Hulst, Besançon and the brand new spherical in Cabras will see the brand new “protected occasion” standing carried out, which permits the “UCI to refuse registration on the UCI Worldwide Calendar of a race that needs to happen the day earlier than or on the day of” the rounds talked about.
“To be clear: we don’t wish to wipe out different races, thoughts you. However it’s a must to perceive: it is a disgrace once you go to new areas after which it’s a must to disappoint these individuals as a result of there are few or no high riders at the beginning,” continued Van den Abeele.
“No one advantages from that and positively not the self-discipline itself. In Belgium, all the pieces goes effectively and no one has an issue with that, however we’ve got to search out the appropriate stability between the supply in and round Belgium and outdoors. And now there’s additionally a transparent hierarchy between the totally different classifications.”
