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8/1/2009
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IL
Edited Date/Time
10/2/2015 7:02pm
We picked up the following paragraph from a statement published by the UCI yesterday:
"Rationalising the great appeal for Downhill Mountain Bike, it was agreed to reduce the total number of riders at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano. This will reduce pressure on the course during training, space required from the organisers, a slightly reduced schedule to give some flexibility in the case of stoppages/red flags, and importantly reduce the wide ability range that currently means some riders are able to access a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup who maybe do not have sufficient experience. In the same spirit, the UCI Management Committee approved to increase the UCI Mountain Bike Team annual registration fee."
What do you think? A move in the right direction, or an unnecessary change?
"Rationalising the great appeal for Downhill Mountain Bike, it was agreed to reduce the total number of riders at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano. This will reduce pressure on the course during training, space required from the organisers, a slightly reduced schedule to give some flexibility in the case of stoppages/red flags, and importantly reduce the wide ability range that currently means some riders are able to access a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup who maybe do not have sufficient experience. In the same spirit, the UCI Management Committee approved to increase the UCI Mountain Bike Team annual registration fee."
What do you think? A move in the right direction, or an unnecessary change?
For the usa riders I would like to see more UCI points on offer and the progrt augmented with east and west calendars that award UCI points yet make it easier for riders to travel to make the entire series.
I can see this bringing another couple rounds to smaller venues if they force smaller teams to forfeit.
first was 4X.. now bit by bit DH
less chances for newcomer and youngsters with their "noname"-teams, thats all what this uci rule shit brings
...
go on with your applause blinds
It seems that standards are increasing, meaning more riders are achieving the required points at their home races to race at world cup level, however the gap between the top 30 and the slowest rider is still large. When you consider that only the top 80 qualify, and around 20 of those are usually pre-qualified, then proportionally having 200+ riders competing for 60 places doesn't make sense.
There are more guys turning up then going home early than there are actually getting the chance to race on a Sunday. Travelling around the world to races is an expensive business for a privateer so by raising the bar and limiting the places, then it might save a lot of guys from this expense. It's arguable that they should be gaining experience and learning their craft at national level on home soil, or in other international series such as IXS.
The increase in team fees is an interesting one. At a guess it is to reduce the attractiveness of registering a UCI Team for 'privateers' who have the backing of family or other sponsors who can stump up a few thousand euros for the status. These guys register a team so that they can have the benefits of paddock space for themselves and their buddies even though they might only have 1 actual 'team' rider. I can understand that the UCI want the paddock area to be a professional environment that is the reserve of factory teams. I guess this is very elitist and might be viewed as such, but we are talking about the highest level of the sport here. I doubt that raising the price will affect any of the current well known teams.
The resort hosting the event has to meet the majority of costs (including uplifts for riders, staff, paddock space, signage, advertising and marketing, safety, parking, marshals, tv viewing platforms, public access, grandstands, course building and taping etc) as well as paying for the organisational rights to the UCI. I've heard figures mentioned that it costs a resort up to around half a million $ to host a world cup. Somebody please correct me if this figure is wildly incorrect.
By reducing the number of competitors this should help ease the cost to the hosting resort. Hopefully this will mean more diverse locations and higher quality racing. This in turn should raise the level of the event and spectator numbers (ie revenue for the resort and local businesses).
Can anyone confirm this dismissal of a idiotic ruling?
From the standpoint of spectators, there is a point where the race gets too small. An event like Hardline kind of sucks for spectators because there is a lot of time with no action on course. Not saying that the UCI will take it anywhere near that point, but the "excess riders" really don't hurt much. They pay their own way, if they want to keep showing up, why should they be told to stay away. You don't see it often, but guys with high number plates do make the top-80 sometimes.
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