Mathieu van der Poel and Peter Sagan have been bumped up from a last-row start in Saturday's Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Championships to the fifth row, according to the official start list.
The UCI explained it has adapted rules that allow for high-ranked riders of other disciplines to be inserted into the grid between 33rd and 40th places for the Worlds.
"There is a rule for the World Cup races. It states that certain riders with a high ranking in another UCI ranking get a privileged position. That rule also exists in the Cyclo-cross World Cup. They are the only disciplines where the starting order is determined by the UCI ranking," UCI Sports Director Peter Van Den Abeele said to Sporza.
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"We extended that rule for mountain biking. We moved it from the World Cup to the World Championship."
Normally riders would be lined up based on their UCI ranking.
For Tom Pidcock, Van der Poel and Sagan to suddenly be in positions 33 to 35, respectively, in the fifth row was an affront to some year-long MTB racers and their teams. Neither Sagan nor Van der Poel are in the UCI MTB rankings, while Pidcock is 61st but won the World Cup in Nove Mesto in May.
The trio will line up ahead of newly-crowned short track World Champion Sam Gaze (New Zealand), who is gridded in 38th position among the 98 riders on the start list for Saturday's elite men's XCO.
Sagan's entourage reportedly were unaware of the change but said they were happy for him to start wherever the UCI decide as he is not hoping for a major result at Worlds. The Slovakian has retired from road racing to turn his attention to MTB, and will join the Specialized Factory Team, it was announced this week.
"It's not fair to other participants," Belgian coach Filip Meirhaeghe said of the decision to Sporza. "They sometimes travel all over the world to collect UCI points for a favorable starting position.
"And it is also not fair to Pidcock, who made the effort to ride a World Cup. He raced - and won - in Nove Mesto to be able to start properly at the World Championships. Now the UCI says: 'You didn't have to do all that.'
"Note, I am also a fan of Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel. They bring a lot of media to mountain biking, but that should not be the criterion for a favorable starting position."
Van Den Abeele discounted the idea that it was favouritism, saying there are plenty of opportunities for riders to move up on the course in Glentress Forest.
"I wouldn't call it favoritism. It's about the added value of the sport," Van den Abeele said.
"A mountain bike race with Pidcock or Van der Poel is of a different caliber than a mountain bike race without those two.
"Imagine: Nino Schurter conquers the rainbow jersey this time in the presence of Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel. Isn't that important to him?"
The future of Cross Country as an Olympic sport also factored into the decision to put these popular riders in a higher grid position.
"Know that we have to fight to keep the game on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic program," Van Den Abeele said.
"We had good media figures in Tokyo. Pidcock and Van der Poel were both at the start there. That is why I think it is opportune to help the sport, because the sport is better with stars."
