Former world champion on UCI punishing Wout Van Aert with a super-low starting position in Liévin: "National coaches should decide who they put in which row"
Cyclocross
Even though he never came close to threatening Mathieu van der Poel's seventh world title last Sunday, Wout Van Aert still rode impressive World Championships, after all he was the only one able to keep up with MVDP from the distance. Had he started from the front row, could he have won in Liévin? We'll never know. But it's definitely something to think about for the UCI, who want to award "pure" cyclocrosser who regularly compete in World Cup, yet is it worth the sacrifice at a competitive level?
Former cyclocross world champion Niels Albert provides his view of this dilemma in Het Laatse Nieuws column:"It was the big question before, during and after the World Championship: should Wout van Aert have been given a better starting position? At the moment, the regulations protect the pure cyclo-crossers and if I have to choose, that will remain the case. You don’t want ten road racers suddenly starting on the front row next year because they also feel like doing the Cyclo-cross World Championships."
"On the other hand: Wout is not just a road racer. The UCI should take his merits for the sport into account a bit more," the former rider believes. "Now they only look at the cyclocross points he has collected, but they could also have weighed his road points."
"On the other hand: at whose expense do you let Wout move up? Those other guys have been racing all season for their starting position. Maybe Wout should have raced a bit more. One extra World Cup round could have made a difference. Wout knew that this is the rule."
According to Albert, the coin has two sides and it's not too clear which should be favored. "But that's exactly why we really need to think about the starting regulations. Times have changed. You're increasingly seeing top riders who only ride a limited program in the winter. A solution could be to give each country the starting positions it deserves, but that the national coaches can decide who they put in which row."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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