UCI To Bring In New Changes

Last updated : 23 September 2015 By Covsupport News Service

The UCI have agreed at a meeting in Richmond, Virginia to bring in some new rules for the 2017 season.

These rules, according to Cycling Weekly, are as follows:

Licences

The UCI will maintain a maximum of 18 teams, but it will grant the licences for three-year periods, 2017 to 2019, to encourage investment and team stability. Its committee will base its decision on financial, sporting, administrative and organisational criteria.

Cahier des Charges

The 18 teams must adhere to new operating rules or cahier des charges. The 10 requirements includes a cap on the number of race days, the number of cyclists in a team and sets a limit on how many riders one coach may handle.

The UCI will add new races for the first time since the E3 Harelbeke joined the WorldTour in 2012. It said that it hopes that the new races, which must follow “strict standards,” will help underline cycling’s global reach.

ASO’s Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman have been rumoured to be among the new races, so have races in the USA and in the UK, like the RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

Rankings

An overhaul of the WorldTour ranking system will happen for the start of the 2017 season. A new universal individual score will include cyclists from the lower two levels and look more like the former World Cup system that ceased in 2005. The UCI may also add specialist rankings, one for the best sprinter, climber, one-day rider and stage racer.

The WorldTeams’ rankings will include points from the WorldTour races only and the second tier team ranking will include WorldTour and second tier races. The nations’ rankings will also be universal and based on the top eight riders from each country.