XCO controversy "disgusting and unfair" - Victor Koretzky lashes out at UCI after just missing out on the podium after assistance to Pidcock

Disgusting and unfair. That's how Bora - hansgrohe's Victor Koretzky has described the controversy regarding the starting positions at the World Championships XCO race. He finished fourth just outside the podium and was angered by having seen race winner Tom Pidcock be benefited by the creation of a last-minute rule.

“This is disgusting and unfair. I have no other words for it. We all fight all year to train, progress and then we don't all start on an equal footing," the Frenchman told L'Équipe. Having also taken up the road with a World Tour outfit, he's put in focus on the discipline over the past few months, and was second at the Short Track race. Now, he just missed out on a medal at the XCO race. "I think everyone sees the problem. It is not normal and not legitimate what the UCI has done here. They have to ask themselves questions about what they are doing.”

He was by far the only one criticizing the new rule, which saw Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock moving up significantly in the starting positions - with Peter Sagan also being benefited despite not fitting the rule. Mass criticism sparked over this last minute rule implemented by the UCI. Although it may have not changed the outcome, Koretzky was perhaps the rider who lost the most with this, having been the first rider outside the medals. Additionally, he began a row behind the trio, despite having more UCI points than all of them - as was the case with the race's second place and Short Track World Champion Sam Ga<e.

“But if I can start on the fifth row like Pidcock, then I can fight with him for the win. Now I immediately lose twenty seconds at the start. If I race on the road, they can't let me leave at the start twenty seconds after the peloton, can they?" he argues. "It is precisely that effort that I have to make at the beginning of the race, to get back to the front of the race, that I can no longer make at the end. I am now very disappointed. Especially because I showed that I was almost as strong as him.”