Did the World Cup in Dublin last too long for the women and too short for the men? That’s what the UCI rules say Cyclocross

Topic of discussion yesterday in Dublin: Lucinda Brand, winner of the women’s category, had to wallow in Irish mud for nearly as long as Pim Runhaar, winner of the men’s category.

The brand spent more than two minutes less time in the saddle than its fellow Dutch Baloise-Trek Lions, which is a small difference.

Two weeks ago, the gorge at Dendermond was almost invisible even with a magnifying glass.

Is there a new directive in effect? Will the competition distance and duration for women be expanded and effectively equal to those for men?

No, that’s the answer from the International Cycling Union (UCI), which stresses that it’s not about guidelines, it’s about regulations.

According to the UCI, those regulations were interpreted correctly in Dublin yesterday.

The rules have been amended regularly over the past decade, but currently the law states that men must finish as close to 60 minutes as possible, and women must finish as close to 50 minutes as possible.

For men, +/- 60 minutes applies to all shows, and for women, it depends on which categories are initially together.

If juniors participate, the winner must close within 45 minutes of the finish time.

If for the ladies only the pros and promises were to start together, the 50 minute rule would apply again.

The UCI’s regulations are clear, but the on-site UCI commissioner still faces difficult calculations.

After two laps – in other words, at the beginning of the third lap – the commissioner determines the total number of laps that the men and women will complete. So it calculates the average cycle time.

This estimate also takes the trajectory into account. With heavy, slow crosses, you can assume that cycle times will only increase.

During a fast cross – think at the start of the season or on a frozen track – you will often see the fastest lap at the end of the cross.

Let’s put it to the test again. Lucinda Brand won in Dublin after 6 rounds in a time of 54:59 minutes.

In Ireland, the young women rode separately, meaning the 50-minute rule applied to Brand and his partners.

The average cycle time was just over 9 minutes. With 5 instead of 6 laps on the table, Brand and her teammates could have been closer to 50 minutes, but the excess of the extra lap is negligible.

Pim Ronhaar finished after 7 laps in 57’17”, good for an average of over 8 minutes per lap. With a cross pass of 8 laps, Ronhaar and his teammates had finished even further behind the target time of 1 hour.

So, there is no immediate talk about gender equality, although there is a broader debate in the cycling world.

Especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, there are many voices demanding equality in the distance or duration of the race between women and men.

They argue that the marathon for women and men is also 42 kilometers long.

This discussion is also alive in the world of gravel, says UCI Director Erwin Verfkken.

“In the United States, the distance between women and men in clay races is the same,” Verfken said. “They think it is a shame that this principle is not applied in the World Cup, for example.”