The UCI has modified the rules of its cyclocross ranking system to take into account the many races cancelled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

The UCI announced on Thursday special rules for the cyclocross season that will allow points earned in races cancelled this year to count toward the rankings in the 2019-2020 season.

The new rule states: "UCI cyclocross rankings published from November 17, 2020 will include UCI points from events in the 2019-2020 season if the same events are cancelled from the 2020-2021 UCI calendar due to the COVID-19 epidemic. included. As such, such points will remain until the end of the 2020-2021 season and will not be deducted."

UCI cyclocross rankings are very important because riders are placed on the starting grid in order of rank. With all UCI races in the U.S. and Canada cancelled, North American riders heading to Europe for the shortened calendar and world championships faced continued drops in their rankings before Thursday's news.

"Many people from all aspects of the sport are pleased with this step to try to bring some normalcy to this crazy year," UCI Cyclocross Committee member and UCI Cyclocross World Championships next race in the US, Fayetteville 2022 Director Brooke Watts said, "There is no way to minimize the impact on both competitors and race organizers.

"We especially appreciate that the revised UCI cyclocross ranking system takes into account points from cancelled events like our Pan American Championships.

Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld manager Stu Thorne told Cyclingnews last week that the rankings are a major concern among North American racers.

"The points have been talked about quite a bit. It started as soon as the races in the U.S. were cancelled. It got even more heated when riders started dropping down the rankings, and the UCI shouldn't ignore that." It's an unfortunate situation for many riders and I hope the UCI will come up with a fair solution."

Pan American champion Magali Rochette finished the 2019-2020 season in third place overall, but before the changed rules she would have been ranked in the top 15 at the first World Cup in Tabor, Czech Republic, on November 29.

Under the new system, Rochette is now ranked 4th, American Rebecca Fahringer is ranked 7th, and in the second row are former US champion Katie Compton ranked 9th and current champion Clara Honsinger ranked 15th.

Rochette expressed her relief on Twitter, saying, "Thank you @UCI_cycling for coming up with a solution that is fair for all riders in all countries. You have done so much over the last few years to make cyclocross more international." I believe this is a fair solution to continue in the same direction.

For the 2021 World Championships, the first eight riders on the starting grid will be the top eight riders in the current season's World Cup rankings; for the U23 men and women, the first row will be the top eight riders in the World Cup rankings, making the remaining five races for both elite riders and U23 riders The importance of the competition is growing.

The World Cup calendar has been reduced from 14 to 5 events for elite men and women and U23 men, with women aged 19-22 integrated into the elite. The four junior men's and women's races are in Tabor, Namur, Dendermonde, and Ovelaise; the Dutch round in Hulst on January 3 is elite only.

From 2021 to 2022, the UCI announced that all points will be reset to zero, except for points earned in the 2021 UCI Cyclocross World Championships.

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