Riders say team relay shows potential at Cyclo-cross Worlds

The 2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, opened today with a Team Relay test event on Friday. No medals or jerseys were an offer; just a trophy, flowers and chance for the UCI to gauge the rider and fan interest in a team relay event at the cyclo-cross Worlds.

“That was a lot of fun!” said American, and hopeful for Saturday’s elite women's race, Clara Honsinger after the line. 

“I do want this to be a regular feature. But it’s hard to think about what it would be like if it was a really cool muddy day and you’d be waiting in that weather and I have a bigger race to keep in mind. But given the conditions we had today, it was a lot of fun and it felt really good to get out there and get a hot lap in.”

A popular event in XC mountain biking since 1999, the team relay is open to one team per federation in which the team consists of one rider per UCI race category. The riders who compete in the event must also take part in their respective fields at the World Championships. 

Each rider per team completes one lap of the course before tagging the next rider waiting in the transition zone. Team strategies like the starting order are up to the team’s discretion. The team of the first fourth rider to cross the finish line wins. 

With fewer than usual athletes attending the World Championships in general, the UCI decided to alter the race’s participation rules late on Thursday, reducing the number of riders per team from six to four, while also offering nations a chance to enter two teams of four riders.

Each participating team was allowed to line up with a team of two female riders and two male riders to include several categories: one junior female or one under-23 female; one under-23 female or one