Baloise - Trek Lions and Thibau Nys will choose their cyclocrosses cautiously this winter: "From now on, such choices will also have to be made in cyclocross"

One of the themes of last cyclo-cross season was the overloaded calendar. And that debate resurfaced with publication of UCI calendar. Involved parties hoped for lesser density of races spread over longer time period. But instead, there is even more focus put on World Cup with 12 rounds within two months. To the frustration of Sven Nys, team manager of Baloise - Trek Lions, among others .

"It has become even more compact, especially the World Cup," Nys tells WielerFlits. "I think it's a sad situation. This would have been better spread out. Many organizers will be disappointed, both in the World Cup, X2O Trofee and the Telenet Superprestige. The closer you bring it all together, the more riders will make choices and cancel races. You can't do them all."

Last year, Nys had to split to focus of his team across multiple competitons. "And ultimately that's a shame. People would prefer to have all riders at the start, but that is not feasible. We are going to put the puzzle together and let the right riders participate in the right races. Like we did last year, and we succeeded."

Nys sees a possible solution in moving the start of the season sooner. "Ideally, we would like to start racing at the end of September, and then divide all the classifications nicely up to and including the World Championships or a few weeks afterwards. Then there is room for anyone with ambition to participate in those rankings. Now that is not the case, then you will drop those rankings for a bit. Where else are you going to rest? You have to go on an internship in December anyway. Otherwise you won't make it to the end of the season. You also see this on the road: there is less racing. From now on, such choices will also have to be made in cyclocross."

With these choices, there is one certainty for the riders of Sven Nys: the extensive World Cup will not be given priority in the planning. "That is almost impossible. The World Cups all come so close together. And above all: we have a lot of respect for all the other organizers, who also deserve the good riders at the start," concludes Nys.