Has the MTB regulation changed to favor cyclists like Van der Poel or Pidcock?

The UCI has done it again. It has already modified the rule that establishes the starting grids for the 2023 World Championship to allow top cyclocross and road cyclists to start at the front of the grid, and now it wants to extend this rule to World Cup events, which seems like a nod to ensure that Van der Poel and Pidcock, who would be the main beneficiaries, continue participating in these races.

New controversy over the rules defining the starting grid in XCC and XCO events

The position occupied on the starting grid in mountain bike races is essential for having a chance to achieve a good placement. Starting from the back forces an extra effort and taking more risks to overtake, which jeopardizes the chances not only of victory but also of achieving a good position.

Positions in World Cup races are determined by the results of the previous race, as well as by performance in the Short Track race, which also allows a spot among the top three rows of the starting grid for the XCO event that same weekend.

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However, for cyclists who are not regulars in the World Cup, which immediately makes us think of Mathieu van der Poel or, since this year, Tom Pidcock, both more focused on road cycling, the current rules relegated them directly to a position in the fourth row or further back in the XCC race, making it very difficult to achieve a good position to start ahead in the XCO race on Sunday.

Now, the UCI has introduced the same modification in the World Cup that it applied at the Glasgow World Championship, which, by the way, provoked Pidcock's anger as he harshly criticized the change that year. That is to say, from now on, cyclists in the top 10 of the UCI cyclocross ranking and those in the top 20 of the road ranking will be placed on the grid just behind the best classified in the previous events. The same applies to XCO races.

This means greater ease in achieving a front starting position if the cyclist competes in the Short Track event, and if they decide not to take risks and do not participate in the XCC, they will still have a fairly front starting position in the XCO. A rule that, if we look for cyclists in the top 20 of the UCI who also compete in MTB, seems tailor-made for Pidcock and Van der Poel in what appears to be an attempt by the UCI to favor the presence of these cyclists in a greater number of races, as they significantly increase the viewership of MTB races, but in recent years have been much more focused on road events.