World Championships: Tom Pidcock "in complete disagreement" with last-minute UCI rule change over preferential start positions for road stars in mountain bike race

After leading names in mountain biking slammed a last-minute UCI rule change that gave preferential starting places in yesterday's world championship men’s elite cross-country Olympic race at Glentress to star riders from other disciplines, the winner of the event Tom Pidcock has said he supports their position and that the rule change "wasn’t made for me or requested by me or from my camp."

> World Championships: Tom Pidcock smashes the field to win mountain bike cross-country rainbow jersey

Pidcock, who rides on the road for much of the season but is also the current Olympic mountain bike champion, Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, who won the rainbow jersey in last Sunday’s men’s elite road race in Glasgow, and Slovakia’s Peter Sagan, a three-time world champion on the road, all started on the fifth row of the grid yesterday, about a third of the way down the 98-rider field.

Of the trio, only Pidcock, who took the bronze medal in the cross-country short track event on Thursday and was accused afterwards by Germany’s Luca Schwarzbauer of causing him to crash on the final corner, has secured UCI ranking points in mountain biking this year after winning the World Cup race at Nove Meste in Czechia in May.

While he is ranked 61st in the discipline, Pidcock was allocated the 33rd place on the grid – ahead of New Zealand’s Sam Gaze, winner of the short-track race on Thursday and yesterday's runner-up. Van der Poel and Sagan lined up alongside Pidcock, despite neither of them having secured any points whatsoever in mountain biking this year, meaning that in normal circumstances they would be beginning the race on the back row of the grid. Since we first published this article, Pidcock of course won the cross-country world title, while Van Der Poel missed out on a historic treble by crashing out and Sagan finished down in 63rd. 

The original statement released on Friday night was signed by riders including the 10-time cross-country world champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland, his compatriot Jolanda Neff, a former women’s world champion in the discipline, and UCI rider representatives Rebecca McConnell of Australia and France’s Maxime Marotte. 

It also highlights the potential impact on qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, with Sagan, who retires from road racing at the end of this season, having already said that he plans to take part in the mountain bike event there as the final race of his career.

“It's great to have big names from different disciplines in our sport and we can't wait to race against them,” the statement says.

“But we are really not happy how the UCI is treating our discipline by changing rules regarding start position a day before the race.

“The point at this time is not whether the rule being applied is fair, unfair or suitable – this is a topic for another day.

“The concern is the way and timing that UCI has applied and enforced this rule. And the consequences that follow for individual riders and teams with Olympic games quota positions likely to be impacted.

“At the moment it is not only about contesting the world championships, but also about the Olympic starting positions that are being fought for along side,” the statement continued.

“It is evident that the UCI has contradicted itself in the application of the rule. Hours out from the start of the World Championship is not an appropriate time to selectively look for rules and we express our deep disappointment and frustration with this situation caused by the UCI,” it concluded.

 

 

 

 

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This morning, Pidcock has taken to his Instagram and Twitter accounts to support the position of the mountain bike stars. 

"I didn’t want to get involved in this rule changing shit show before the race but I feel something needs to be said", said Pidcock.  

"Even though this did end up benefiting me I’m in complete dis-agreement with it. This rule wasn’t made for me or requested by me or from my camp. 

"I sacrificed 3 weeks of prep for the TDF extending my spring before taking a break in order try get as many points as I could for this world champs. If a rule like this is to be made, it needs to be at the start of the year. I support the rider representatives position."