Mounting disquiet about preferential treatment of multi-discipline, star athletes by the UCI at the Mountain Bike World Championships turned quickly to a formal rebuke as a number of the competitors at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships penned a letter outlining their concerns over the late decision.
The written statement issued by athletes late Friday was in response to rule changes which moved Mathieu van der Poel and Peter Sagan, who haven't earned any mountain bike UCI points this season, from last-row grid start positions in Saturday's cross-country race to fifth row positions.
The change came as a rule created for World Cup races, across mountain bike and cyclocross disciplines, was adapted at the last minute for the MTB World Championships, setting off a storm of reactions. Riders were particularly disturbed by the last minute nature of the decision, which has the potential to have an impact beyond results on the day, with potential implications for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
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“It's great to have big names from different disciplines in our sport and we can't wait to race against them. But we are really not happy with the way the UCI is treating our discipline by changing the rules regarding starting positions a day before the race,” the statement read.
“The point right now is not whether the rule being applied is fair, unfair or appropriate – that's a topic for another day. What matters is the manner and timing in which the UCI applied and enforced this rule. And the consequences that follow for individual riders and teams with quota positions for the Olympic Games. At the moment it is not only about contesting the world championships, but also about the Olympic starting positions that are being fought for together."
UCI riders representatives Rebecca McConnell and Maxime Marotte were the lead signatories on the joint statement, which was also signed by a long list of key names in mountain biking, including Nino Schurter, Jolanda Neff, Anne Terpstra, Mathias Flückiger and Jens Schuermans. It was also shared on social media by Sven Nys, two-time cyclocross World Champion and the manager of trade team Baloise Trek Lions.
“It is clear that the UCI contradicts itself in applying the rule," the statement said. "Hours before the start of the World Championship is not an appropriate time to selectively search for rules and we therefore express our deep disappointment and frustration at this situation caused by the UCI.”
The official technical guide for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships 2023 states that the start order will be "as per the last published UCI XCO individual ranking". Tom Pidcock, who was ranked 61st due to a win at the World Cup in Nove Mesto in May, was to be slotted the fifth of 11 rows of riders. Van der Poel and Sagan did not have any UCI MTB rankings, so were expected to line up on the back row. The change moved them up to spots 33, 34, and 35. This put them in front of many riders who are ahead of them on the rankings, including newly-crowned short track World Champion Sam Gaze (New Zealand) and the second-placed Victor Koretzky (France),
Sven Nys – who won five Belgian national titles in mountain biking along with two cyclocross world titles and is currently the manager of trade team Baloise Trek Lions – was among those not impressed by the UCI ruling.
“That every rider has to fight all year long to eventually get a good starting place. And that others get this place. That is very frustrating for the traditional biker.” he said on Twitter.
The UCI Sports Director, Peter Van Den Abeele, told Sporza that at the World Championships it had extended the rule in mountain bike and cyclocross World Cup competitions which allows certain riders with a high position in another UCI ranking to get a "privileged position", for the good of the sport.
"I wouldn't call it favoritism. It's about the added value of the sport," Van den Abeele said in the Sporza report. "A mountain bike race with Pidcock or Van der Poel is of a different caliber than a mountain bike race without those two."
Van der Poel is ranked sixth in the UCI men’s road rankings for his Alpecin-Deceuninck team, and was fifth last season in cyclocross ranking. Pidcock is 17th in the men’s road rankings for Ineos Grenadiers. Sagan, who has announced he will retire from road racing this season, is ranked 311th.
