Two-time cyclocross world champion Sven Nys continued to speak out about world governing body UCI's proposed changes to the format of World Cup competitions, reiterating Sunday that teams and riders were not consulted for the third round of the Super Prestige Series.

The current World Cup is contested over a total of nine rounds from mid-September (the opening two rounds are in the US) to late January, but the new competition, which will apply from the 2020/21 season, will be compressed to 16 rounds from October 11 to January 24, with races every Sunday.

"How many national federations can afford to play 16 rounds?" According to Belgian cycling website wielerflits.be, Nys, who currently manages the Telenet Baloise Lions cyclocross team, speaking at the 'Telenet studio' in Gavere, Flanders Classics CEO Tomas Van Den Spiegel, speaking at the 'Telenet studio' in Gavere.

Flanders Classics, the organization behind some of Belgium's most famous one-day road races such as the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and Gent-Wevelgem, will be organizing the 2020/21 cyclo-cross World Cup in contract with the UCI to organize it.

"What does the team think about youngsters wearing national clothing every Sunday instead of team clothing?" asked Nys, referring to junior men and women representing their country instead of their team during World Cup competitions. Teams no longer want to invest in the development of young players." [he added. The race organizers were in the dark and had not consulted the teams or riders."

In response, van den Spiegel said that the race calendar and its venues would be announced in January or February 2020 and that the teams were involved in the reforms.

"In that case, as manager of Telenet Baloise, I should know, but I haven't heard anything yet," said the Belgian, who won the cyclocross world championships in 2005 and 2013, six World Cup titles between 2000 and 2009, and was Belgium's Nys, a nine-time elite cyclocross champion, said.

A number of riders, including American cyclocross champion Katie Compton and British under-23 world champion Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing), were also asked by hln.be for their opinions at the Beringen cyclocross weekend.

"I don't like it. Too many races," Compton told hln.be. 'There will be more countries in Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) and not all over the world. When you have 16 races in the World Cup, you can't logistically travel around Europe and spend a lot of time. It would be like baseball in the U.S., with the World Series being played in one country. It's going to be a World Series between players from Belgium and the Netherlands."

"I think some of the other races in the series will suffer because of it.

"Of course, we won't know if it will work or not until we experience it, but my initial reaction was that I think it will be better."

Asked if he is prepared to be based in Europe for the duration of the competition, Compton added. 'Luckily, the cross season isn't that long, so it will probably be between October and January. But I think it's going to be a real struggle for athletes from other countries and for athletes who are in their first or second year of the sport at the top level."

"So it's tough and I think there are better ways to do it.

Pidcock, on the other hand, admitted that most of what he knows comes from what he has heard from other riders.

"There have been 16 races and it looks like it's being sold to the highest bidder.

"That's really great, and I think it was really well received at the last Milton Keynes," he said, recalling the 2014/15 World Cup round in this town in Buckinghamshire, England. Belgium's Sanne Canto won the elite women's race ahead of Compton, while Kevin Pauwels came out on top in the men's race.