The UCI will introduce an official nation’s ranking at the Richmond World Championships, it announced on Thursday morning. It will include all races – elite, U23 and junior – and both men’s and women’s. The team time trials, which are contested by trade teams, are excluded.
“Inspired by the Olympic medal table, this ranking will reward the group performance of the entire team,” UCI President Brian Cookson said in the UCI statement. “It will no doubt be an additional motivation for riders and countries taking part in the UCI’s most important road event of the year.”
The ranking will be updated at the end of each race and the winningest nation will receive a trophy at the end of the championships.
Boeckmans facing massive facial reconstruction surgery today
“The worst is over” for Kris Boeckmans, according to Lotto-Soudal, but he still has a long way to go. He faces up to nine hours of surgery today to reconstruct his face, including fractures to both jawbones, teeth, and nose.
After Thursday’s surgery, he will not be allowed to speak for two weeks “so that everything can heal properly." The 28-year-old will stay in hospital in Genk until early next week, at which point it will be decided "whether he should stay the full two weeks in hospital or be allowed to go home to continue recovering there," team spokesman Arne Houtekier told the Belga news agency.
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"He is on the right track, but he still has a long way to go," Houtekier said. "We are, in any case, relieved that he has come so far already."
Boeckmans crashed in the Vuelta a Espana, suffering facial trauma with multiple fractures, a concussion, three broken ribs, pneumothorax, laceration of the lung, bleeding of the lung and swollen pulmonary tissue.
Movistar announces short list for Worlds TTT
Movistar has announced seven riders fro the Richmond Worlds team time trial on Sunday, of whom six will ride the race. The final decision will be made “in the hours prior to the race.”
Andrey Amador, Winner Anacona, Jonathan Castroviejo, Alex Dowsett, Ion Izagirre, Adriano Malori and Jasha Sutterlin will travel to the US for the race, which the team describes as shorter than usual “with no technical sections and most suited for specialists.”
LottoNL-Jumbo signs young Belgian
LottoNL-Jumbo has signed Victor Campenaerts, who has been with Topsport Vlaanderen the last two years. The 23-year-old has talents in short stage races and time trials.
This season he finished fourth overall in the Ster ZLM Toer and second in the Wallonie Tour, after winning a stage there. He will be with the WorldTour team for two years.
