"Cyclocross can not exist with just three riders" - Sven Nys urges for changes in cyclocross' starting fee situation

Opinions vary quite a lot in the cyclocross world currently when it comes to how start fees are applied, and one of the biggest legends of the discipline Sven Nys urges for changes as the lower-tier riders suffer to keep up with the high demands of the calendar.

“We want to keep all riders involved in our sport, so we need to to think more about others and less about Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock. It’s important, cyclocross can not exist with just three riders," Nys told CyclingWeekly.

Recently it has been revealed that the start fees per race can be as high as €15.000 for riders such as Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, and little less for World Champion Tom Pidcock. Although the financial support is also present in other riders, many struggle to have the means to race throughout the whole winter, which may contribute to a less competitive and deep field.

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“We can’t compare cyclo-cross with road racing. Most of the riders have their own expenses from travelling to Benidorm or places like Dublin," Nys explains. "If they aren’t able to get a fee at that moment to come to some races, they’re going to decide to race in Belgium because it costs less money."

“I think we need to talk with everyone involved in cyclo-cross. Race organisers, the UCI, athletes and teams, then we can not solely bring money to the biggest riders, but make a good balanced budget so that others are able to afford things like their travel costs. It’s really not in a good balance right now," Nys argues.

With the World Cup having expanded to 14 rounds, half of them being outside of Belgium and the Netherlands, and with the continuous internationalization of the discipline, negative effects end up being felt towards the bottom of the field.

“The big guys only race 10-15 races a season. Although we need to think beyond those three riders because we have up to 40 races in a CX season. If we only think about those 10-15 races with Wout, Mathieu and Tom Pidcock what will we then do with all the other riders? The World Cup starts in October, we need to think about those riders that start those races then and not only about the big guys who join in December," Nys concluded.