The 15th of August marks the day when the UCI publishes updated rankings for the purpose of determining the number of riders a nation may send to the road world championships. The UCI has not yet released an overview of the countries qualified for this year’s championships held in Firenze in September; but CyclingQuotes.com has looked at the updated rankings and can now present a list of all qualification spots for the 2013 men’s elite world championship, as well as explain the calculations behind it.

 

The qualification rules for the men elite’s World Championships are laid down anew at the beginning of each year by the UCI Management Committee (although the changes from year to year are small), and aren’t all that easy to understand; we’ll go through them step by step and explain as we go.

 

 

Qualification through the WorldTour

 

First, 10 countries qualify via their placing in the WorldTour nations ranking:

“1. The 10 first countries in UCI WorldTour classification by nation on 15 August 2013: each country may enter 14 riders, with 9 to start. However, a nation with fewer than 9 riders classified in the individual UCI WorldTour ranking on 15 August 2013 shall start the number of riders that are classified. A nation with fewer than 6 riders classified in the UCI WorldTour ranking will, nonetheless, start 6 riders (* and **).”

 

The first sentence sounds straightforward – the countries in the top-10 of the WorldTour get 9 riders at the start line. However, that only applies if a country has 9 or more riders with WorldTour points; otherwise, only the number of classified riders qualify, with a provision that any WorldTour top-10 nation will qualify 6 riders.

 

The current WorldTour ranking can be seen here.

Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and France all have more than 9 riders ranked in the WorldTour; they get 9 spots. But Colombia only has 4 riders with points; Great Britain has 8, Poland 3, Switzerland 5, and Slovakia 2.

 

And this is where the rules become complicated, and the rule marked with one asterisk comes into force:

“* A national federation ranked in the top ten on the UCI WorldTour ranking that does not achieve its athlete quota maximum because of the number of riders ranked on the individual UCI WorldTour ranking can complete its athlete quota thanks to the places it can receive on its respective continental circuit – the UCI Africa Tour, UCI America Tour, UCI Asia Tour, UCI Europe Tour and the UCI Oceania Tour – but must not, however, exceed the athlete quota of 14 riders with 9 to start obtained in the UCI WorldTour.”

 

This means that Colombia, Poland, Switzerland and Slovakia may qualify further places through the continental circuits. Colombia leads the America Tour nations ranking, and is therefore entitled to 6 riders on top of the 4 qualified through the WorldTour. As the upper limit is at 9 starters, Colombia will get 9 spots for the World Championships, and can therefore be expected to play a big part in the race.

 

Poland and Switzerland are 13th and 14th, respectively, in the Europe Tour nations ranking, qualifying 3 extra riders each; Slovakia and Great Britain are 21st and 22nd, respectively, and thus don’t get any extra spots this way. Altogether, Poland will be able to start with 6 riders (3+3), Switzerland gets 8 starters (5+3), Great Britain also gets 8 spots (8+0). Slovakia, despite having only two riders ranked in the WorldTour, gets 6 spots, the minimum for a nation in the WorldTour top-10.

 

The places not awarded through the WorldTour are reallocated as per the following rule:

“** The places of the nations which have been qualified by the UCI WorldTour calendar but are not allocated in regards of the last disposition, will be reallocated to the nations from the 11th rank of the UCI WorldTour calendar, with one supplementary place allocated by nation.”

 

This year, 8 unallocated places will be re-distributed to the nations below the top-10 in the WorldTour nations ranking, giving one extra spot (on top of what each country qualifies through other means) to numbers 11-18: Belgium, the United States, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal and Denmark.

 

 

Qualification through the various continental circuits

 

To determine the nations qualifying via the five continental circuits, the countries already qualified under rule 1 are removed from the relevant nations ranking, and places are then assigned according to the remaining countries.

 

We start with Africa, where the three best nations qualify:

“2. The 3 first nations of the classification by nation of the UCI Africa Tour on 15 August 2013 excluding the nations qualifying via the UCI WorldTour classification: the 1st nation qualifying under this rule may enter 9 riders, with 6 to start (rank 1); the 2nd and 3rd nations may enter 5 riders, with 3 to start (rank 2).”

 

No African nations are in the WorldTour top-10, so the Africa Tour nations ranking counts as it is: Morocco qualifies 6 starters; Eritrea and Algeria get 3 places each.

 

The top-5 American nations qualify:

“3. The 5 first nations of the classification by nation of the UCI America Tour on 15 August 2013 excluding the nations qualifying via the UCI WorldTour classification: the 1st and 2nd nations qualifying can enter 9 riders, with 6 to start (rank 1); the 3rd, 4th and 5th nations can enter 5 riders, with 3 to start (rank 2).”

 

Colombia has already qualified via the WorldTour, so is omitted from the America Tour nations ranking for this purpose. That gives the United States and Venezuela 6 riders, while Brazil, Mexico and Canada each get 3 spots. The United States are allowed one extra spot (see rule ** above), pushing their contingent to 7 starters.

 

From Asia, it’s the first 4:

“4. The first 4 nations of the classification by nation of the UCI Asia Tour on 15 August 2013 excluding the nations qualifying via the UCI WorldTour classification: the 1st nation qualifying under this rule may enter 9 riders, with 6 to start (rank 1); the 2nd, 3rd and 4th nations qualifying can enter 5 riders, with 3 to start (rank 2).”

 

No Asian country is at the top of the WorldTour, so as was the case with Africa, the Asia Tour nations ranking remains unchanged, giving the top nation Iran 6 places. Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and Malaysia are allocated 3 spots each.

 

Europe qualifies the highest amount of countries for the World Championships:

“5. The first 14 nations of the classification by nation of the UCI Europe Tour on 15 August 2013 excluding the nations qualifying via the UCI WorldTour classification: the first 6 nations qualifying can enter 9 riders, with 6 to start (rank 1); the nations ranked 7th to 14th can enter 5 riders, with 3 to start (rank 2).”

 

When Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Great Britain and Slovakia (all qualified via the WorldTour) are taken out of the Europe Tour nations ranking, Austria moves up to 6th place and is therefore the lowest-ranked European nation to qualify 6 starters, in line with Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Slovenia. Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey and Latvia each get 3 riders. However, six of these nations were allocated one extra rider each (see rule ** above) – meaning that Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany qualify 7 riders, while Portugal and Denmark qualify 4.

 

Eventually, there’s Oceania:

“6. The 1st nation of the classification by nation of the UCI Oceania Tour on 15 August 2013 excluding the nations qualifying via the UCI WorldTour classification: this qualifying nation may enter 5 riders, with 3 to start (rank 2).”

 

Australia (6th in the WorldTour ranking) is removed from the Oceania Tour nations ranking, leaving only New Zealand, who get the 3 starters.

 

 

Qualification through the individual WorldTour ranking

 

For countries not qualified yet, there is the possibility of getting to the World Championships because of individual riders ranked in the WorldTour:

“7. Each nation in the UCI WorldTour classification which has not otherwise qualified but has:

- a rider among the first 100 in the individual classification of the UCI WorldTour classification on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 5 riders, with 3 to start

- three riders in the individual classification of the UCI WorldTour classification on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 5 riders, with 3 to start.

- two riders in the individual classification of the UCI WorldTour classification on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 3 riders, with 2 to start.

- one rider in the individual classification of the UCI WorldTour classification on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.”

 

Ireland, Estonia, Lithuania and Costa Rica all have a rider in the top-100 of the individual WorldTour ranking, and thus qualify 3 riders each; however, Ireland gets 1 additional spot through rule ** for a total of 4 starters.

South Africa has two classified riders, gaining the country 2 starters.

Finland, Luxembourg and Belarus each qualify 1 rider on account of their single riders in the WorldTour classification.

 

 

Qualification through the individual rankings on the continental circuits

 

A similar rule exists for the continental circuits:

“8. The following nations on the Continental Circuits not otherwise qualified:

- The African nations with a rider among the first 5 in the individual classification of the UCI Africa Tour on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.

- The American nations with a rider among the first 20 in the individual classification of the UCI America Tour on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.

- The Asian nations with a rider among the first 5 in the individual classification of the UCI Asia Tour on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.

- The European nations with a rider among the first 200 of the individual classification of the UCI Europe Tour on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.

- The Oceania nations with a rider among the first 5 of the individual classification of the UCI Oceania Tour on 15 August 2013: each nation may enter 2 riders, with 1 to start.”

 

In the Africa Tour individual ranking, Tunisia is the only nation with a rider in the top-5 that hasn’t qualified otherwise; the Mediterranean country therefore gets 1 starting place.

Argentina and Ecuador both have a rider placed in the top-20 of the America Tour individual ranking, also entitling them to 1 rider each.

The Europe Tour individual ranking has riders from Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Greece within the top-200, giving these six countries 1 World Championships spot each.

In Asia, none of the countries not yet qualified have a rider in the top-5 of the Asia Tour individual ranking. The same is true for the Oceania Tour individual ranking, where only Australians and New Zealanders are classified; and both of these countries are already qualified.

 

 

The defending world champion, and the host nation

 

Near the end, there are provisions in the rules to ensure that the current world champion will have the opportunity to defend his title:

“If the outgoing Men Elite World Road race Champion or the outgoing Olympic Road race Champion comes from a nation which has not yet qualified, he may take part in the first World Championship after he wins his title. He may not be replaced by another rider.”

As Belgium has qualified for the World Championships, this rule is not used in 2013.

 

The rules also guarantee the host nation a contingent of at least 6 starters:

“If the nation responsible for organising the World Championship is qualified in the second rank of nations via the classification by nation for its continent, it may enter 9 riders with 6 to start.”

Italy qualifies 9 spots via the WorldTour, though; so this rule isn’t evoked either.

 

 

The size of the peloton

 

As the total number of riders for the World Championships could be higher than 200, the rules end with this:

“The limitation of the article 2.2.002 does not apply.”

That reservation refers to the limit of 200 riders for a road race:

“2.2.002 The number of riders starting a road race shall be limited to 200.”

This rule is disregarded for the World Championships, enabling every nation qualified to take their place.

 

 

A final overview

 

Finally, here’s a complete overview over all the countries qualified to participate in the 2013 World Championships, and the number of riders each may send. In total, 55 countries have qualified 230 riders.

 

Spain: 9 riders

Colombia: 9 riders

Italy: 9 riders

Netherlands: 9 riders

Australia: 9 riders

France: 9 riders

Great Britain: 8 riders

Switzerland: 8 riders

Belgium: 7 riders

United States: 7 riders

Czech Republic: 7 riders

Slovenia: 7 riders

Germany: 7 riders

Poland: 6 riders

Slovakia: 6 riders

Morocco: 6 riders

Venezuela: 6 riders

Iran: 6 riders

Ukraine: 6 riders

Austria: 6 riders

Ireland: 4 riders

Portugal: 4 riders

Denmark: 4 riders

Estonia: 3 riders

Lithuania: 3 riders

Costa Rica: 3 riders

Eritrea: 3 riders

Algeria: 3 riders

Brazil: 3 riders

Mexico: 3 riders

Canada: 3 riders

Kazakhstan: 3 riders

Hong Kong: 3 riders

Malaysia: 3 riders

Russia: 3 riders

Sweden: 3 riders

Norway: 3 riders

Croatia: 3 riders

Turkey: 3 riders

Latvia: 3 riders

New Zealand: 3 riders

South Africa: 2 riders

Finland: 1 rider

Luxembourg: 1 rider

Belarus: 1 rider

Tunisia: 1 rider

Argentina: 1 rider

Ecuador: 1 rider

Hungary: 1 rider

Bulgaria: 1 rider

Serbia: 1 rider

Moldova: 1 rider

Romania: 1 rider

Greece: 1 rider