After rumours emerged that the Giro d’Italia would start in Japan in 2017 were dismissed by race organisers RCS Sport to VeloNews, the UCI has said that if needs be, they can make changes to Grand Tour rules to allow the race to start further afield than Europe.

“The Union Cycliste Internationale has allowed from time to time changes to help grand tours to start overseas,” the UCI said to VeloNews. “Any such case needs to be assessed on the specifics. Of course there are many elements to consider, including impacts on riders and other events. Promoting cycling globally is a priority for the UCI and changes such as the reform of the UCI WorldTour are designed to promote this.”

The 2014 Giro started on a Friday rather than a Saturday in Belfast, Ireland. This meant there were three race days, but it allowed the teams, journalists and organisers to move back to Italy stress free. They are applying the same rule for the 2016 Giro which starts in Apeldoorn.

“They are there as ideas,” RCS Sport’s cycling director Mauro Vegni told VeloNews last week regarding the U.S. and Japan. “I hope that the UCI understands how important it would be to have a start like this, but without having their OK, I’m not going to go talk with someone in the U.S.”

Even the professional peloton don’t seem to be too much against the idea of starting a Grand Tour outside of Europe.

“We know that events like that take resources — money,” team Trek’s general manager Luca Guercilena said last May. “They need to go where the resources are. It wouldn’t be that bad to have a couple for stages far away, if the logistics are well-organized, and we are notified well in advance.”