{"id":32702,"title":"UCI Cyclo-cross teams explained","description":"In this article, we\u2019ll try to explain what UCI Cyclocross teams are and why Mathieu van der Poel rides for three UCI teams.","content":"

Published in<\/strong>: CYCLOCROSS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

In this article, we\u2019ll try to explain what UCI Cyclo-cross teams are and why Mathieu van der Poel rides for three UCI teams.<\/p>

NOTE<\/strong>: This article was written for the 2023-24 season and the names of teams and the members of teams will have changed since then but the principles of how UCI cyclocross teams are structured remain true.<\/em><\/p>

\"ImageIf you\u2019re a keen cycling fan you\u2019re probably familiar with the different types of UCI road teams including World Tour and Pro Continental but cyclocross has its team structure too.<\/p>

That might seem odd, given that cyclocross is much less of a team competition than road racing. We investigate the two-tier UCI cyclocross team structure and try to explain why Mathieu van der Poel is registered with three UCI teams.<\/p>

What are the UCI Cyclo-cross teams?<\/h3>

The UCI has created two levels of cyclocross teams<\/strong><\/a>. The UCI Cyclo-cross team (CRO) and UCI Professional Cyclo-cross team (P-CRO). You might be tempted to think the difference is that one is for professionals and the other for amateurs but that\u2019s not the case at all.<\/p>

It\u2019s quite possible to run a UCI Cyclo-cross team where all the riders are paid professionals. Indeed, that\u2019s the structure most teams operate under. The difference is the size of the teams, which races they can enter and how much they have to pay the UCI for the pleasure of registering.<\/p>

Note that the UCI generally or maybe always refers to cyclocross as cyclo-cross. It\u2019s typical of the crazy sport that is cyclocross that we can\u2019t even all agree on what it\u2019s called.<\/p>

What\u2019s the difference between them?<\/h3>

A UCI Cyclo-cross team (CRO) must have a minimum of three riders at least 19 years old and one of these must be female. For example, at the time of writing both Crelan-Corendon and Cyclocross Reds were registered as CRO teams.<\/p>

Crelan-Corendon has twelve registered riders including Sanne Cant and Laurens Sweeck. Cyclocross Reds, formerly known as Team 777 but changed due to gambling laws, has four riders including Anna Kay and Ryan Cortjens.<\/p>

A UCI Professional Cyclo-cross team (P-CRO) must have a minimum of ten riders at least 19 years old and no more than 16. There\u2019s a further stipulation which I think is interesting. The team must either have a minimum of ten male riders or a minimum of eight female riders.<\/p>

Thus a P-CRO team could consist of all men or it could consist of ten women, or eight women and two \u2018spare\u2019 men.<\/p>

There are at present only three P-CRO teams: Baloise Trek Lions, Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal and Deschact Hens Maes. Each of them operates under the \u2018minimum of ten male riders\u2019 rule.<\/p>

Why register as a UCI Cyclo-cross team?<\/h3>

A rider does not have to be a member of a UCI registered team to ride in UCI cyclocross races including the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups. For example, Jens Adams and Gerben Kuypers regularly rode the 2022-23 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups despite neither belonging to UCI teams.<\/p>

So why do teams go to the trouble and expense of registering?<\/p>

Firstly, the registered teams get recognition from the UCI. The team names are included in the entry lists and results for World Cups and the team name may appear on the World Cup leader\u2019s jersey.<\/p>

They also get minimum numbers of team helpers accredited into the pit zones and car parking spaces.<\/p>

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\"Visual<\/h3>

The UCI Professional Cyclo-cross teams gain the option of competing on the road in events where UCI Continental teams are allowed to enter. This is how the Baloise Trek Lions and Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal teams are able to ride such races as the Baloise Tour of Belgium.<\/p>

You might be wondering how Wout van Aert gets Jumbo-Visma alongside his name on the World Cup results. That\u2019s because all UCI teams get listed on the results regardless of whether road, cyclocross or mountain bike teams.<\/p>

Jens Adams and Gerben Kuypers, because they weren\u2019t riding for UCI-registered teams in 2022-23, are listed in UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups as riding for Belgium.<\/p>

The UCI\u2019s rules for cyclocross state that \u201cRiders, men and women, belonging to the following teams are allowed to race cyclo-cross events under the name and the clothing of their respective team<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>

Those teams include UCI cyclocross, road and mountain bike teams. That rule implies to me that only members of those UCI teams should wear their trade kit, although it\u2019s quite ambiguous.<\/p>

Whatever the rule really means or is intended to imply, Jens Adams rode in his one-man Chocovit trade team jersey at the World Cups in 2022-23.<\/p>

UCI Cyclo-cross team obligations<\/h3>

Obviously, these benefits have to be paid for. It\u2019s \u20ac1,200 for a CRO team and \u20ac6,500 for a P-CRO team, plus the relevant national federation\u2019s fee.<\/p>

Professional Cyclo-cross teams are obligated to send an elite male or female to every round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup. If they don\u2019t they immediately lose their P-CRO status. Unless they can show the national federations of their riders didn\u2019t send any.<\/p>

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\"Visual<\/p>

Why is Mathieu van der Poel registered with three UCI teams?<\/h3>

I\u2019ll be quite honest, I\u2019m not sure. Mathieu van der Poel is registered as a rider with the Alpecin-Deceuninck World Tour team, Alpecin-Deceuninck MTB team and Alpecin-Deceuninck UCI Cyclo-cross team.<\/p>

I had wondered if they needed his name to meet the minimum number of riders as a UCI Cyclo-cross team but this isn\u2019t the case. He doesn\u2019t need to ride for the Alpecin-Deceuninck UCI Cyclo-cross team as his team and thus sponsors would get full coverage if he entered as a World Tour team member.<\/p>

I assume that individual sponsors and suppliers have different arrangements with the various Alpecin-Deceuninck teams and Mathieu gets \u2018shared out\u2019 between them. I wonder if Mathieu has trouble knowing which team he\u2019s riding for when he enters races. But I guess that\u2019s not something he ever has to deal with.<\/p>

The Roodhooft brothers<\/h3>

Brothers Christophe and Philip Roodhooft are pivotal in the sport of cyclocross. They manage three of the UCI Cyclo-cross teams: Alpecin-Deceuninck, Crelan-Corendon and Cyclocross Reds. That\u2019s a third of all the Belgian teams and with a total of twenty-four riders, over ten per cent of riders in UCI Cyclo-cross teams.<\/p>

It doesn\u2019t stop there either. Puck Pieterse, arguably the second-best female cyclocross rider is contracted to their Fenix-Deceuninck team. The existence of the Alpecin-Deceuninck and Fenix-Deceuninck teams explains why their cyclocross teams only have UCI Cyclo-cross status. When they want to ride road races they just ride as Alpecin-Deceuninck or Fenix-Deceuninck.<\/p>

Virtually all of the Alpecin-Deceuninck, Crelan-Corendon and Cyclocross Reds are also registered to ride with the Alpecin-Deceuninck, Fenix-Deceuninck road teams or their Development versions. Oh, yes that\u2019s two more teams.<\/p>

The overlap between the team, riders, sponsors and equipment is quite a work of logistical art although they do share the same service centre. Whilst Fenix-Deceuninck and Alpecin Deceuninck all ride Canyone bikes, Crelan-Corendon and Cyclocross Reds both employ Stevens frames.<\/p>

It\u2019s a complex financial and administrative web. If the Roodhooft brothers who sit like spiders at the epicentre ever decide to decamp from professional cycling, the fallout would be huge.<\/p>

Current makeup of UCI Cyclo-cross teams<\/h3>

In addition to the three UCI Cyclo-cross Professional teams, there are an additional 26 UCI Cyclo-cross teams.<\/p>

Belgium has the most with ten cyclocross teams registered with the UCI, France has five, Italy and the USA three each, Spain and Great Britain two, and Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Luxembourg one each.<\/p>

Interestingly, there are no teams from the Netherlands despite having twenty-two riders, just under half of Belgium\u2019s fifty. Great Britain has twenty registered riders, whilst the USA has fourteen.<\/p>

The British UCI Cyclo-cross teams are: Hope Factory Racing and Spectra Cannondale p\/d Das.<\/p>

The three American teams are Competitive Edge Racing, CXD Trek Bikes and Trek Factory Racing CX.<\/p>

19 October 2023, Tim Costello<\/em><\/p>

\"Rijden<\/p>

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