"We can take even tougher measures, but I don't think that will be necessary" - UCI director hopes compact World Cup schedule will bring enough top riders to the start

While cyclocross winter has been in the full swing for a month now and we already have a new European Champion, World Cup is yet to take off. After disappointing interest among top riders to participate in UCI's "Champions League", the organisation made several changes, creating a "compact World Cup" that will include 12 rounds within two months. Hopefully, this will bring a positive trend and David Lappartient's threat of "sanctions" won't be fulfilled.

"We do indeed want to involve the riders more in the UCI World Cup and encourage them to take part in the rounds," UCI Sports Director Peter Van den Abeele confirms to Het Nieuwsblad. "And so we have chosen, in consultation with the rights holder of the UCI World Cup Flanders Classics, to organise fewer rounds this year on the one hand and to shorten the period in which the rounds take place on the other. In this way, we will have a more compact World Cup."

Last year, there were fourteen World Cup rounds with the first one already on 15 October, now there are only twelve with the first one not until 24 November. On 26 January, barely two months later, the final round will follow in Hoogerheide. Van den Abeele hopes this will prove to be a step in the right direction.

"But that is not the only thing we have done to ensure that the top riders participate in the World Cup races," Van den Abeele continues. "We have also given certain World Cup rounds the status of 'protected cyclo-cross.'" One such will be the Besançon World Cup at the end of December.

What exactly does that mean for riders? "This means that no other international cyclo-cross race may be on the programme the day before. In this way, you are going to force riders to travel to Besançon and not pass because they have a contract with another cyclo-cross the day before," Van den Abeele explains.

Chairman Lappartient suggested last winter that UCI is prepared to sanction riders who would continue to evade certain World Cup rounds. Van den Abeele doesn't dismiss the possibility, but hopes such measures won't be needed: "If we see that the trend continues and that rule is being played with, then we can play it even harder and see if we can take even tougher measures. But in all honesty: I do not think that will be necessary."