In the days before the first UCI Gravel World Championships last year, the specialists who had spent much of the year competing in and supporting the new UCI Gravel World Series discovered their results were worth nothing when it came to the all-important starting positions in the race for the rainbow jersey. In a controversial decision, they were being trumped by road, mountain bike and cyclocross athletes, who had not raced a single one of the gravel series events. In 2023, the rules are set to change.
A post flagging the alterations to the regulations was put out on the Gravel World Series Facebook page, outlining that elite riders at the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto, Italy on October 7-8, would line up based on a points system. On first glance, this appeared to lean in favour of those racing gravel throughout the year.
