Radical changes for 2012 World Championships

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In awarding the 2012 World Road Championships to the Dutch province of Limburg, Pat McQuaid, the International Cycling Union (UCI) president, announced radical changes to the Championship format.

The programme is to be nearly doubled in length, from five to nine days, and span two weekends. A team time trial is to be re-introduced and junior events are to be incorporated. Each change is, in its own way, significant, but it is the re-introduction of a team time trial, albeit in a vastly different form, that is the headline-grabber.

Previously contested by national teams of four, it will now feature trade teams of a yet-to-be-determined number. Speaking in Mendrisio on Wednesday evening, McQuaid said that teams could be "could be six, seven or eight"-strong. As for qualification, teams will be selected according to a "system based on results," though McQuaid added that, in line with the UCI’s "policy of globalising cycling, there will be a global aspect to [selection], so that it’s not just European teams."

With the new-look world championships to get underway on the Saturday with an opening ceremony, the team time trial will be the first event, on Sunday. As the UCI calendar stands, it could create a clash with the final day of the Vuelta a España.

"We will study a new calendar to avoid clashes," said Philippe Chevaliar, the UCI road coordinator. "Teams should be able to compete in the Vuelta and the team time trial, but we will do what we can to avoid [a conflict]."

McQuaid added that the team time trial, until it was dropped in 1993 and replaced by the individual time trial, "became an event dominated by equipment and run on a highway, out-and-back. What we’re hoping to do is introduce a team time trial for trade teams run on normal roads or a circuit, to be a more spectacular televisual event, similar to what you’d see on one of the stages of the major tours."

McQuaid denied that trade teams had exerted pressure on the UCI or tried to muscle in on the World Championships. The decision to open the team time trial to trade teams has been taken, he said, solely by the UCI and "to improve the spectacle" of the event.

"From a visual point of view it was boring," continued McQuaid of the old four-man team time trials. "Let’s be honest, the trade teams are the ones who can invest in the material to put together a team time trial team. With national teams, a lot of them don’t have the ability to invest. Trade teams can, and are willing. It’s more spectacular. The public, the fans, can have more affinity with it, because they’re the guys they see all year round.

As part of the inclusion of juniors into the ten-day championships, competitors will be required to attend a UCI junior riders' conference on Thursday afternoon. Another innovation is the introduction of a ‘cyclo-sportive’ event on a day that is yet to be decided.

McQuaid said that the changes are intended to make the championships "more dynamic and televisually spectacular." He added: "We want to make it an annual rendezvous that becomes a very important part of the cycling family’s year."

The provisional programme for the 2012 world road championships is as follows:

Saturday: Opening Ceremony

Sunday:

Morning: Women’s Team Time Trial

Afternoon: Men’s Team Time Trial

Monday:

Morning: Junior Women’s Time Trial

Afternoon: Under-23 Men’s Time Trial

Tuesday:

Morning: Junior Men’s Time Trial

Afternoon: Elite Women’s Time Trial

Wednesday: Elite Men’s Time Trial

Thursday:

Morning: UCI Congress

Afternoon: UCI Junior Conference

Friday:

Morning: Women’s Road Race

Afternoon: Under-23 Men’s Road Race

Saturday:

Morning: Junior Men’s Road Race

Afternoon: Elite Women’s Road Race

Sunday: Elite Men’s Road Race

The week will also feature a mass participation ‘sportive’ ride, on a day to be confirmed.

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