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The UCI has recently officially announced a number of upcoming UCI rule and regulation changes, and some of them impact our sport of cyclocross starting this season.

Many of the changes will likely be popular, including adding a Junior Women’s category starting in 2020, increasing women’s payouts and increasing overall pay at the World Championships.

There’s also the addition of UCI Cyclocross Teams (announced earlier this year, but with a July 31, 2017 application deadline).

Even Masters are impacted. The Baby Masters (30-34) category is going away in 2018, but fast UCI racers 35 and over with up to 100 UCI points will be allowed to compete for Masters Worlds titles starting in 2018, whereas before just one UCI point would disqualify a racer from competing. (It’s too bad the late Steve Tilford won’t be able to appreciate such a change, as the legend we miss dearly always lamented having to softpedal to avoid earning a UCI point in cyclocross races).

Helen Wyman, who sits on the UCI Cyclo-cross Committee, broke the news of some of these changes on Twitter.

She’s shared the upcoming changes, and we’ve got highlights of the new cyclocross-related rules and regulations below. (The numbering and subtitles are ours while text is from the UCI.)

  1. Women’s Junior Category added. During its meeting on 28th June 2017, the UCI Management Committee has approved the creation of the Women Junior category at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, from 2020 (when the Worlds will be awarded to Europe).
  2. Bye Bye Baby Masters. During the same meeting, the UCI Management Committee approved the modification of age categories at the UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championships from December 2018: the age category 30-34 years will be cancelled;
  3. Bye Bye Soft Pedaling, Hello Pros at Masters Worlds. Any rider with a maximum of 100 UCI points at the UCI Cyclo-cross Individual Ranking, Men and Women, will be allowed to participate, instead of zero points, as it is currently. Please note that no changes have been introduced for the 2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships to be held in Mol (BEL) on 1st-2nd December 2017. UCI Regulations regarding these World Championships will be updated in 2018.
  4. Water Sharing Enforced. Personal high-pressure cleaners [are] forbidden in the pit area during World Cup, Continental and World Championships, for equality reasons.
  5. Extrapolation Delayed: The calculation of the number of laps for UCI International Cyclo-cross events [happens after the second lap].
  6. One at a time: For UCI Cyclo-cross races, only one category on the track at any one time.
  7. Lojack Laws: Electronic identification devices, such as transponder or GPS tracker, are mandatory for all riders when provided by the Timing company.
  8. Mo’ money and equality: New Financial obligations will apply to UCI Cyclo-cross events from the 2017-2018 season. As already communicated in 2016, the minimum Prize Money for class 1 events has increased; as a consequence, we now have equality in Men/Women’s prize money as follows: minimum prize money for class 1 & 2 events, prize money for Continental and World Championships.
  9. Bigger Pot o’ Gold at the end of Rainbows and World Cups: At the UCI Management Committee meeting on 28th June 2017, the following prize money increases for the 2017-2018 season were approved (these will be paid by the UCI at the end of the Cyclo-cross season):
    * UCI World Championships: increase for all categories of +36,5%;
    * Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, overall standings for Women: prize-money increase of €35,000 (+39%).
  10. More cold shoulders. A reduced dimension for riders’ shoulder numbers in Cyclo-cross races

Stay tuned as we bring you more details on the upcoming rule changes.