In January of 2017, the UCI introduced the creation of cyclocross specific teams. If everyone will please turn to article 5.5.001 in their UCI cyclocross bible, you will see that 5.5.001 defines a cyclocross team as “an entity consisting of a minimum of three riders, each of whom must be of the age of 19 years and older.” A UCI cyclocross team must include a minimum of one women rider. There is no minimum for the number of men on the team, which means an all-women squad is possible.
A rider who is already a member of another discipline’s UCI registered team, may be registered in a UCI cyclocross team if there is a signed agreement between the rider, the UCI cyclocross team and the “other discipline” team. The members of a UCI cyclocross team are employed or sponsored by the same entity, for the purpose of taking part in cyclocross events on the UCI international CX calendar.
The first question that seems to come up when seeing the list of UCI cyclocross teams is “hey, I don’t see ___________ on there. Can they no longer race UCI races?” The answer is that you do not need to be a registered team to participate, but registering will garner benefits that non-registered teams do not enjoy. These benefits are found in article 5.5.017. Let’s go there now:
UCI cyclocross teams registered with UCI receive benefits which include:
- (a) advertising on leader’s jersey of the UCI cyclo-cross world cup as per article 5.3.023;
- (b) name of the team on the entry / start lists and results / rankings edited during a UCI cyclo-cross world cup;
- (c) 2 accreditations for the team managers zone in the pit area and 2 parking passes per UCI cyclo-cross team during UCI cyclo-cross world championships and UCI cyclo-cross world cup;
- (d) mailing list providing a direct information from UCI;
- (e) publication of the team’s name, composition, geographical and digital addresses on the UCI website;
- (f) publication of the UCI cyclo-cross team ranking.
Riders who are members of a UCI registered team must be given a written contract that contains, as a minimum, the provisions of the standard contract that can be found in Annex 5 of the cyclocross regulations.
Now that the nuts and bolts are out of the way, here are a few interesting tidbits that can be gleaned from the team rosters listed below. First off, Tom Pidcock, who entered into a two year contract with the Telenet Fidea Lions, last year, has started his own team. Sven Nys and Pidcock separated amicably. According to a team statement, Nys said that from the very first meetings with Tom we knew how he would like his career to build up and that he is a rider who is sought after by WorldTour teams. We have worked together in a nice way in the past year and we would have preferred it for another year. But when a team of that allure makes an offer, we do not want to stop Tom.” So it looks like by doing this, Pidcock is keeping his options open for his road racing career.
The other notable addition to the registered teams is the Trek Factory Racing CX team, the first-ever all women UCI registered cyclocross team. TFR CX will field a roster of three women: two-time world champ Evie Richards, world champ silver medalist Ellen Noble, and Trek Cyclocross Collective graduate Emma Swartz.
There are 17 registered teams. Seven from Belgium, three from France, two from Spain, two from the United States, two from Italy and one from Great Britain.
And without further ado, get ready to peruse some rosters because here are your 2018-2019 Season teams:
Corendon-Circus (BEL)
| CANT Sanne | 08.10.1990 | BEL | |
| DEKKER Jens | 13.12.1998 | NED | |
| DEL CARMEN ALVARADO Ceylin | 06.08.1998 | NED | |
| MEEUSEN Tom | 07.11.1988 | BEL | |
| MEISEN Marcel | 08.01.1989 | GER | |
| TURNER Ben | 28.05.1999 | GBR | |
| VAN DER POEL David | 15.06.1992 | NED | |
| VAN DER POEL Mathieu | 19.01.1995 | NED |
Crelan-Charles (BEL)
| GODRIE Stan | 09.01.1993 | NED | |
| KAPTHEIJNS Maud | 28.09.1994 | NED | |
| MERLIER Tim | 30.10.1992 | BEL | |
| VAN AERT Wout | 15.09.1994 | BEL |
Delikia-Ginestar (ESP)
| ESTEBAN AGUERO Ismael | 16.09.1983 | ESP | |
| IBARROLA ALBIZUA Luisa | 13.03.2000 | ESP | |
| ORTS LLORET Felipe | 01.04.1995 | ESP |
GARNEAU-EASTON p/b TRANSITIONS LIFECARE (USA)
| GOMEZ VILLAFANE Benjamin | 18.06.2000 | USA | |
| KISSEBERTH Jack | 09.03.1993 | USA | |
| POSTIER Dylan | 05.11.1991 | USA | |
| RICHEY Craig | 24.06.1984 | CAN | |
| VAN DEN HAM Michael | 02.08.1992 | CAN | |
| ZAVETA Erica | 06.09.1989 | USA |
KEMPENSE CXV (BEL)
| BOROŠ Michael | 09.08.1992 | CZE | |
| HOEKE Geerte | 14.07.1990 | NED | |
| JACOBS Johan | 01.03.1997 | SUI | |
| LOOCKX Lander | 25.04.1997 | BEL | |
| MERLIER Braam | 11.02.1994 | BEL | |
| ROMBOUTS Seppe | 14.05.1998 | BEL | |
| VERMEERSCH Florian | 12.03.1999 | BEL | |
| WOUTERS Sieben | 23.06.1996 | NED |
KTM ALCHEMIST RACING TEAM (ITA)
| HEIGL Nadja | 15.02.1996 | AUT | |
| SAMPARISI Lorenzo | 21.08.1993 | ITA | |
| SAMPARISI Nicolas | 01.04.1992 | ITA | |
| SPADONI Gabriele | 19.08.2000 | ITA |
Marlux-Bingoal (BEL)
| DE CLERCQ Angelo | 10.12.1991 | BEL | |
| DEBEIR Arno | 12.07.1999 | BEL | |
| FRANCK Alicia | 04.12.1994 | BEL | |
| ISERBYT Eli | 22.10.1997 | BEL | |
| JOSEPH Thomas | 06.12.1996 | BEL | |
| PAUWELS Kevin | 12.04.1984 | BEL | |
| PAUWELS Tijl | 24.08.1998 | BEL | |
| VANTHOURENHOUT Dieter | 20.06.1985 | BEL | |
| VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | 10.12.1993 | BEL | |
| VERDONSCHOT Laura | 04.12.1996 | BEL |
NESTA CX TEAM (ESP)
| ANIA GONZALEZ Daniel | 14.08.1987 | ESP | |
| GONZALEZ BLANCO Lucia | 09.07.1990 | ESP | |
| SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Kevin | 14.06.1994 | ESP |
PAUWELS SAUZEN – VASTGOEDSERVICE (BEL)
| ADAMS Jens | 05.06.1992 | BEL | |
| BELLENS Jarno | 18.07.2000 | BEL | |
| CAMPS Jelle | 05.04.1999 | BEL | |
| KOPECKY Tomas | 08.04.2000 | CZE | |
| PEETERS Jinse | 26.05.1999 | BEL | |
| PEETERS Yannick | 15.11.1996 | BEL | |
| SELS Loes | 25.07.1985 | BEL | |
| SOETE Daan | 19.12.1994 | BEL | |
| SWEECK Diether | 17.12.1993 | BEL | |
| SWEECK Laurens | 17.12.1993 | BEL | |
| VANDEBOSCH Toon | 19.06.1999 | BEL | |
| VERSCHUEREN Jolien | 07.05.1990 | BEL |
S1NEO CONNECT CYCLING TEAM (FRA)
| DELBOVE Joris | 15.07.2000 | FRA | |
| HUMBERT Valentin | 03.09.1996 | FRA | |
| MOREL PETITGIRARD Marlène | 02.05.1988 | FRA | |
| MOUREY Francis | 08.12.1980 | FRA | |
| NAVARRO Quentin | 09.03.1998 | FRA |
SELLE ITALIA – GUERCIOTTI – ELITE (ITA)
| BARONI Francesca | 04.11.1999 | ITA | |
| BERTOLINI Gioele | 26.04.1995 | ITA | |
| DORIGONI Jakob | 10.03.1998 | ITA | |
| SALA Stefano | 25.03.1997 | ITA |
TARTELETTO – ISOREX (BEL)
| BONNE Jenko | 22.04.1997 | BEL | |
| DERVEAUX Niels | 17.03.1997 | BEL | |
| KUYPERS Gerben | 01.02.2000 | BEL | |
| MUSEEUW Stefano | 01.06.1997 | BEL | |
| UYTDEWILLIGEN Ingmar | 08.10.1991 | BEL | |
| VAN COMPERNOLLE Kenneth | 30.03.1988 | BEL | |
| VAN DE KERCKHOVE Nick | 13.03.1996 | BEL | |
| VAN DE STEENE Kim | 08.07.1986 | BEL | |
| VAN DEN EYNDE Vince | 10.02.2000 | BEL | |
| VRACHTEN Arne | 23.02.1999 | BEL |
TEAM CHAZAL CANYON (FRA)
| BENOIST Antoine | 06.08.1999 | FRA | |
| CHAINEL Steve | 06.09.1983 | FRA | |
| CRISPIN Mickael | 07.04.1998 | FRA | |
| GRAS Yan | 07.01.1996 | FRA | |
| SPATZ Eléonore | 27.05.1983 | FRA |
TEAM CROSS SAFIR GANOVA (FRA)
| CANAL Fabien | 04.04.1989 | FRA | |
| FALENTA Alois | 23.02.1989 | FRA | |
| PETIT Marlène | 01.04.1991 | FRA | |
| RIVET Benjamin | 01.02.2000 | FRA | |
| THOMAS Victor | 29.04.1998 | FRA |
TELENET FIDEA LIONS (BEL)
| AERNOUTS Jim | 23.03.1989 | BEL | |
| AERTS Thijs | 03.11.1996 | BEL | |
| AERTS Toon | 19.10.1993 | BEL | |
| BEKAERT Yentl | 18.07.1999 | BEL | |
| CLEPPE Nicolas | 12.12.1995 | BEL | |
| GOEMAN Andreas | 07.08.1999 | BEL | |
| HERMANS Quinten | 29.07.1995 | BEL | |
| NAGENGAST Fleur | 28.01.1998 | NED | |
| TRUYEN Marthe | 30.09.1999 | BEL | |
| VAN DER HAAR Lars | 23.07.1991 | NED | |
| VAN KESSEL Corne | 07.08.1991 | NED | |
| VAN LOY Ellen | 16.09.1980 | BEL |
TP Racing (GBR)
| PIDCOCK Thomas | 30.07.1999 | GBR | |
| TULETT Daniel | 03.07.1999 | GBR | |
| WADSWORTH Emily | 08.08.1999 | GBR |
Trek Factory Racing CX (USA)
| NOBLE Ellen | 03.12.1995 | USA | |
| RICHARDS Evie | 11.03.1997 | GBR | |
| SWARTZ Emma | 18.02.1997 | USA |
Feature photo: © 2017 Brett Rothmeyer
