UCI Announces Wider Recognition for Junior World Cup Racers
The UCI recently announced a rule change for junior riders racing the World Cup series that will ensure the wider recognition and higher participation of riders at all future UCI World Cup events. This new ruling is great news for young riders coming up through the rankings, as there will potentially be more sponsorship deals on the table and more attention paid to their results.
In the past, at UCI World Cup events the junior racers were not separated from the elite field and raced on the same course in the same category. Many obviously struggled to qualify in the top 80 with such a strong field of riders, and were not able to take a race run on Sunday. Now the juniors will race before the elites in their own category and have their own separate podium.
![jnr womens winner and future star in the making]()
From the UCI RULEBOOK:
At the world championships and the world cup events, separate junior events are organized for men and women juniors.
The first 5 men juniors and the first 3 women juniors of the last UCI DHI individual ranking of the preceding year can decide whether they want to race the entire World Cup season as elite or junior. All other junior riders must race the World Cup season in the junior category. For World Championships and World Cup events, separate junior results (apart from exceptions above) will be established.
Here is the list in ranking order of qualified junior atheletes:
Junior Women: Tahnee Seagrave, Marianne Ruud and Holly Feniak.
Junior Men: Richard Rude, Dean Lucas, Phil Atwill, Jure Zabjek and Gianluca Vernassa.
We are currently waiting on clarification from the UCI on the following: We believe if any of these juniors decide to race elite then they will forfeit their chance to race the World Championships as a junior, which would be a massive blow and a potential decision stopper right there for them to move up a category.
![Loic Bruni of Lapierre coming home as the fastest junior at the Pietermaritzburg UCI World Cup DH. And placing 27th overall.]()
For all other races on the international calendar, the UCI points are awarded in relation to the rider’s time and not to their category. To ensure that this rule is correctly applied, only one combined result needs to be sent to the UCI. When a junior downhill rider scores the best time at the national championships, (s)he must wear the elite jersey. The junior jersey is not awarded in this case.
This could cause a massive upset at National Championships as we could potentially see a junior take home the jersey/arm band leaving the elites without a title on their resume, plus loss of prize money and ranking points. From an organizer's point of view, all juniors and elites would have to be seeded together.
The above new ruling has several ramifications and there is nobody better to quiz on this than Trek World Racing and IMTTO President Martin Whiteley, therefore we asked him a few questions regarding the matter at hand.
Regarding this new ruling, will the points from juniors racing junior level at World Cups be allocated to their UCI Trade Teams points, therefore boosting the team's World Cup ranking?
I believe only juniors that have opted to race in the elite category (the top ones that get invited to move up), can count World Cup team ranking points towards their team. World Cup team ranking points are only awarded to the top 30 men and 20 women in the elite race anyway. But you need to clarify this with the UCI MTB Department. I have no juniors on my team this year so I haven’t fully investigated this.
Is this a good ruling? Where did it come from, and who pushed for it?
Chris Ball pushed it and I understand the reasoning. A large number of juniors travel to these races but very few get through to race the final on Sunday. This can be discouraging. So in order to give them a race on Sunday against riders of their own age, and also to free up the numbers a bit in the elite race, this solution was reached. Personally, I think we could go one step further, almost as Moto GP does, and have three classes, and therefore three races on Sunday. Start with juniors (men and women) in the morning, then the men ranked outside the top 60 or so (call them World Cup 2), and then the big final, World Cup Pro, Men and Women. Needs work but it means more races, more excitement for the fans, and a way for talented riders to come through easier.
Will we see a three man podium for the seniors now?
It will remain five for 2013, but the UCI keeps pushing to change it. The teams and riders are completely against changing a 20 year history in our sport of having five rider podiums. DH does not benefit from Olympic status or extra government/National Federation funding like XC, so it needs whatever it can to promote its riders and sponsors. We love being able to say we got a podium at a World Cup, it’s a great headline, and potentially 10 teams can tell their sponsors and fans that each week. For juniors they have already decided only three, and as it’s a new category we were unable to argue the history angle. I believe if the UCI keep pushing this three rider podium “because it looks neater” for them, the riders and teams will stage boycotts.
![photo]()
Are the UCI World Cup events wanting increased rider participation at their events now? On average at each round of the 2012 World Cup series we only saw 175 riders on the hill, broken down as follows:
Rd 1 Pietermaritzburg 134
Rd 2 Val di Sole 226
Rd 3 Fort William 173
Rd 4 Mont-Saint-Anne 155
Rd 5 Windham 162
Rd 6 Val d'Isere 228
Rd 7 Hajfell 148
That's more of a question for the likes of Mike Jardine or Rare Management who organizes the Fort William World Cup, but I believe that an attraction for any organizer is an increase in the number of hotel beds and restaurant tables filled so as to attract more local tourism support. More spectators, supporting families etc, all good stuff.
Also, to help further boost attendance, the UCI are allowing each federation to send in an additional six junior and elites riders both male and female that do not have the required 20 UCI points to race a World Cup. That is potentially another 24 riders per country adding to the entry field, in addition to any junior riders on a UCI trade team already.
Pinkbike's Take:
![photo by phunkt.com]()
Stay Unclipped.
Si Paton
Facebook.com/BritishDownhillSeries
In the past, at UCI World Cup events the junior racers were not separated from the elite field and raced on the same course in the same category. Many obviously struggled to qualify in the top 80 with such a strong field of riders, and were not able to take a race run on Sunday. Now the juniors will race before the elites in their own category and have their own separate podium.
Tahnee Seagrave on her own on the podium.
From the UCI RULEBOOK:
At the world championships and the world cup events, separate junior events are organized for men and women juniors.
The first 5 men juniors and the first 3 women juniors of the last UCI DHI individual ranking of the preceding year can decide whether they want to race the entire World Cup season as elite or junior. All other junior riders must race the World Cup season in the junior category. For World Championships and World Cup events, separate junior results (apart from exceptions above) will be established.
Here is the list in ranking order of qualified junior atheletes:
Junior Women: Tahnee Seagrave, Marianne Ruud and Holly Feniak.
Junior Men: Richard Rude, Dean Lucas, Phil Atwill, Jure Zabjek and Gianluca Vernassa.
We are currently waiting on clarification from the UCI on the following: We believe if any of these juniors decide to race elite then they will forfeit their chance to race the World Championships as a junior, which would be a massive blow and a potential decision stopper right there for them to move up a category.
Loic Bruni, 2012 Junior World Champ, racing at Pietermaritzburg where he finished in the top junior spot, 27th overall.
For all other races on the international calendar, the UCI points are awarded in relation to the rider’s time and not to their category. To ensure that this rule is correctly applied, only one combined result needs to be sent to the UCI. When a junior downhill rider scores the best time at the national championships, (s)he must wear the elite jersey. The junior jersey is not awarded in this case.
This could cause a massive upset at National Championships as we could potentially see a junior take home the jersey/arm band leaving the elites without a title on their resume, plus loss of prize money and ranking points. From an organizer's point of view, all juniors and elites would have to be seeded together.
The above new ruling has several ramifications and there is nobody better to quiz on this than Trek World Racing and IMTTO President Martin Whiteley, therefore we asked him a few questions regarding the matter at hand.
Regarding this new ruling, will the points from juniors racing junior level at World Cups be allocated to their UCI Trade Teams points, therefore boosting the team's World Cup ranking?I believe only juniors that have opted to race in the elite category (the top ones that get invited to move up), can count World Cup team ranking points towards their team. World Cup team ranking points are only awarded to the top 30 men and 20 women in the elite race anyway. But you need to clarify this with the UCI MTB Department. I have no juniors on my team this year so I haven’t fully investigated this.
Is this a good ruling? Where did it come from, and who pushed for it?Chris Ball pushed it and I understand the reasoning. A large number of juniors travel to these races but very few get through to race the final on Sunday. This can be discouraging. So in order to give them a race on Sunday against riders of their own age, and also to free up the numbers a bit in the elite race, this solution was reached. Personally, I think we could go one step further, almost as Moto GP does, and have three classes, and therefore three races on Sunday. Start with juniors (men and women) in the morning, then the men ranked outside the top 60 or so (call them World Cup 2), and then the big final, World Cup Pro, Men and Women. Needs work but it means more races, more excitement for the fans, and a way for talented riders to come through easier.
Will we see a three man podium for the seniors now? It will remain five for 2013, but the UCI keeps pushing to change it. The teams and riders are completely against changing a 20 year history in our sport of having five rider podiums. DH does not benefit from Olympic status or extra government/National Federation funding like XC, so it needs whatever it can to promote its riders and sponsors. We love being able to say we got a podium at a World Cup, it’s a great headline, and potentially 10 teams can tell their sponsors and fans that each week. For juniors they have already decided only three, and as it’s a new category we were unable to argue the history angle. I believe if the UCI keep pushing this three rider podium “because it looks neater” for them, the riders and teams will stage boycotts.
Saracen's Phil Atwill Crosses the line at Fort William - picture courtesy of Sarah Barrett.
Are the UCI World Cup events wanting increased rider participation at their events now? On average at each round of the 2012 World Cup series we only saw 175 riders on the hill, broken down as follows:Rd 1 Pietermaritzburg 134
Rd 2 Val di Sole 226
Rd 3 Fort William 173
Rd 4 Mont-Saint-Anne 155
Rd 5 Windham 162
Rd 6 Val d'Isere 228
Rd 7 Hajfell 148
That's more of a question for the likes of Mike Jardine or Rare Management who organizes the Fort William World Cup, but I believe that an attraction for any organizer is an increase in the number of hotel beds and restaurant tables filled so as to attract more local tourism support. More spectators, supporting families etc, all good stuff.
Also, to help further boost attendance, the UCI are allowing each federation to send in an additional six junior and elites riders both male and female that do not have the required 20 UCI points to race a World Cup. That is potentially another 24 riders per country adding to the entry field, in addition to any junior riders on a UCI trade team already.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | This can only be a good move from the UCI for every junior rider out there looking to make a name for themselves and receive additional sponsorship and support at the World Cup level. No longer will the big UCI trade teams have their fingers crossed for their single junior rider to roll the dice at the annual World Championships for their bets to pay off. They can now hopefully reap the rewards several times a year for a minimum outlay. The only two negatives we can see would be for an elite racer being left high and dry in favor of a junior rider. The second point is with an increase in rider participation will we undoubtedly see a drop in riding standards at our premium series. - Si Paton |
Marc Beaumont came up through the ranks as a junior under Steve Peat's wing - will the likes of Taylor Vernon come of age now that he is with GT Factory Racing?
Stay Unclipped.
Si Paton
Facebook.com/BritishDownhillSeries
Author Info:
Member since Jul 26, 2006
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And I agree with a myriad of others I suspect when saying that Juniors do get screwed from time to time in this way. I know Anne-Caroline isn't the only one to feel screwed over in this way.
I remember this year, she said at the megavalanche "I'm a bit sad because I can see, there isn't enough competition between me and the others...
Do you think Troy would have been as fast as he is if he only had to race against juniors all season (he won by 9 seconds in Champery against the juniors, and would have been 2nd elite (albeit under slightly different conditions). The experience of racing and training against the fastest in the world is what allowed him to excel so far.
If you are a Junior and fast enough to race at a World Cup Level (see Troy Brosnan exmaple again) then that's where you should be. If not, you should be developing your skills at local races and earning it. Juniors do not make the elite finals simply because they are not at that level yet.
Political correctness gone mad.
"That's more of a question for the likes of Mike Jardine or Rare Management who organizes the Fort William World Cup, but I believe that an attraction for any organizer is an increase in the number of hotel beds and restaurant tables filled so as to attract more local tourism support. More spectators, supporting families etc, all good stuff"
This is not a toonie race, it's a world cup. It's pretty sad if World Cup organizers can't make it work.
When I started racing I was 13 and it was just under 19s, seniors and elites. Totally unfair, asking a 50kg schoolboy to race against 18 year old men. As a result I finished my first race 44th and was devastated. A couple of years later they changed it to youth, junior etc, and I was straight top ten, top 5 on my day. I was never going to win or make it as a pro so telling me I couldn't directly measure myself against Jason McRoy, Will Longden, Tom Edwards, Steve Peat etc didn't really bother me. I'd rather be closer to the podium in my own age group race.
Plus, it means I don't have to waste my time sitting through 2 hours of racing that I don't care about because I want to see Brendog, and he qualified below some of the juniors. I'd be happy if the broadcast was just the top 20 men.
As for 5-rider podiums. I have been wondering about that since I got back into MTB a couple of years ago. Why? You can say what you want about pleasing the sponsors, but all it does is devalue the currency. Yeh ten teams can tell the sponsors they got a podium, but the sponsors know all you have to do is finish 5th to get one, so the degree of stoke is lower. This is the only sport I've ever heard of that has 5 riders on the podium and I don't agree with it.
Over the last couple of years the UCI seems to have been moving in the direction of making the World Cups more exclusive and prestigious. They went from having the World Cup virtually open to anyone with an elite license, to requiring 1 uci point, then it moved to 20 uci points. If I'm not mistaken they reduced the number of racers who qualify on race day. These moves all seemed like good moves to ensure that you are showcasing high level riding. Maybe I'm alone, but when I watch a World Cup it is for just that reason, to see the best (as good as they are, sometimes I'll even skip a good part of the mens field until it gets exciting).
There have been alot of juniors working their way up through the elite ranks in the last couple of years. Personally I think that was exciting to see. Also if an elite rider doesn't qualify because they lost their spot to a faster junior, I see no problem with this. Again in my mind a World Cup is the best of the best. Are we going to start to see a junior category in the Redbull Rampage?
It seems like this rule was put in place more to increase participation and numbers at the races. If this is the case and the UCI is having trouble attracting race organizers due to poor profitability, I guess this is a good response, but it doesn't make for a better series.
I am all for development of riders, but if Juniors are not ready for the world Cup then they should need to bide their time and hone their skills. I see nothing wrong with the system that was in place last year and in years past. The caliber of the riding was high, we had the excitement of watching juniors work their way up the ranks and even upset some of the elites, and they still had recognition in the form of a junior podium
This isn't going to stop me from watching, but I dont' think that this was done for the right reasons or for the right goals.
UCI have taken away 4x ! . Enduro racing event ???. So really they are not trying to develop MTB as a sport .
The UCI are just trying to make the event more profitable for the UCI . They are not giving the sport anything , the riders are the assets . There is still only 24 hours in a day and still a limit on the number of riders men , women and juniors you can get down a hill on one track . I think we will see more guys leaving the pro circuit as they will only be able to make end meet and not a living at DH as teams/ sponsors opt for junior riders for media and brand exposure .
sites.google.com/site/goracebc/cycling-bc/race-license/faq---categories-and-upgrades
Riders over 30 have long had the option to switch their Senior Elite license to a masters class license, and there are seperate master-class world championship events held in cycling, often at a different venue. For five years in a row, the Masters UCI mtb world championships were held in Bromont. This gives the aging but still racing pros the chance to actually still win a rainbow jersey, and not worry about being beaten by riders 10 or more years younger than them, who don't have the same pressures in their mind NOT to get themselves hurt/killed.