Van der Poel and Sagan overtake half of the grid before the start of the XCO World Championships

The UCI has just published the start list for the XCO World Championships to be held in a few hours, on August 12th from 12:30. And in it, Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and Peter Sagan appear in positions far ahead of what would correspond to them by UCI points in the ranking of the modality.

Van der Poel moves from last to fourth row at the start of the XCO World Championships

In the XC World Cup there is a long-standing UCI rule that allows riders from other disciplines who are well positioned in their respective top 10 rankings to have a better position on the starting grid than they would be entitled to by points.

This rule seems to have been extended also for the XCO World Championship a few days ago so that road stars like Tom Pidcock or the current World Road Champion Mathieu van der Poel would not have to start from very late positions.

In the recently published start list, Van der Poel has jumped from the last row to the fourth, next to Pidcok, but next to them there is also the name of Peter Sagan. If it is already difficult to explain the British and the current World Road Champion, Sagan's name seems to be just a whim of the UCI, as the Slovakian has not been among the best classified in the road ranking for some years.

The decision is generating much debate among fans and the cyclists themselves who have seen how they have been overtaken, without much justification, even before taking the start. And no doubt this starting order will be decisive in the race. Now Mathieu van der Poel, although he has not competed in MTB for months, should be taken into account among the candidates for victory.

Here you will find the schedules and direct links to watch and follow the race.