Doha: In a press release sent on Thursday, UCI has announced that it has agreed important regulation changes related to Track Cycling, BMX Supercross and Mountain Bike during a meeting held at Doha with the 2016 UCI Road World Championships Organising Committee.
Following a two-day meeting held in Doha, UCI Management Committee agreed on certain changes in different formats of the three Cycling Disciplines.
Track Cycling
In Track Cycling, the Madison event will be introduced for Women at the UCI World Championships, which till now was available only for men’s leg. Also, the rule for a gained lap has been amended to be of 20 points and with points awarded every ten laps. These two changes in the point system have been implemented to make it easier for the Spectators. Points awarded in the final sprint have been doubled in both the Madison and Points Race to increase the competitiveness.
In the Omnium event, there will be extensively changes as the new competition format will have four bunch events (scratch, tempo race, elimination and points race), all to be held on the same day. Removing the timed events makes Omnium a pure endurance event, bringing better balance to the track programme.
In the Sprint event, four more riders will be allowed to participate than the existing one (28 instead of 24), and tournament has been shortened and now the four athletes clocking the best qualifying times will go straight to the 1/8 finals.
In the Kilometre and 500 metre Time Trial event, two athletes will be allowed ride simultaneously on the track during qualifications, and finals will be held individually in the evening.
In the Keirin event of Track Cycling, the sprint distance is increased to 3 laps and the rules about overtaking the pacer have also been clarified.
In the Team Pursuit event, two teams will be allowed to ride simultaneously on the track in the qualifying heats, and finals for 5th & 6th places and 7th & 8th places have been removed from the competition format.
In the Team Sprint event, a first round has been added to bring it in line with the Olympic Games and Team Pursuit format. In addition, rules on disqualification and false start have also been clarified.
BMX Supercross
BMX Supercross is the second discipline to have changes planned for. In the new format, tactical changes has been agreed to make the event easier for the spectators to understand; direct elimination in the first round, and no more time trials. In addition, Extensive minimum standards for BMX tracks and associated facilities have been added to the UCI BMX Regulations to improve the consistency of rider’ experience and safety between events under infrastructural necessities for the discipline.
Mountain Bike
In the Mountain Bike discipline of Cycling, the UCI Management Committee agreed the following changes for the Downhill events of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano:
- Increase in the eligibility points for participants (from 30 to 40 points). This will ensure lesser athletes with more competitive environment.
- The number of riders participating in the final is reduced to 15 Women Elite and 20 Juniors.
- A separate DHI Women Junior event.
During the course of the two day meeting, UCI also agreed on 2017 International Calendars for BMX, Mountain Bike, Road, Para-cycling, Trials, Indoor Cycling and Mass Participation.
Speaking post the meeting, on the changes in the competition format, UCI President Brian Cookson said: “While it is important that we safeguard the essence of our cycling disciplines, we also need to be brave and embrace change in order to give our sport real meaning to those who are watching live or on screens across the world. The changes announced today show that we are moving with the times to ensure that our disciplines are presented in the most compelling way possible, and are rooted in the desire to attract and inspire even more fans into cycling.”
UCI has also decided to recommence the trial of disc brakes in road events after months of discussions between representatives of teams, riders and the industry, and following confirmation of support from the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) and Association Internationale des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels (AIGCP).
The trial will restart on January 1, 2017 exclusively with discs to be modified to ensure the perimeter edge of the brake rotor does not contain any 90 degree edges but are smoothed or chamfered, a decision taken following extensive examination of the equipment and a detailed safety report and will be closely monitored and formally reviewed on monthly base.
The UCI Management Committee will meet next in Luxembourg (LUX) on January 27th, 2017 during the 2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.