Cycling\u2019s governing body the UCI has caused controversy before with what riders and teams have said are unfair regulations. It is once more in the firing line Friday, with past Australian champion Peta Mullens accusing it of an unfair last minute rule change. <\/p>\n
Mullens, who was Australian road race champ in 2015, expressed her frustration in a social media post. The 38 year old said she had travelled to the UCI Gravel world championships in Nannup after clear indications that she could ride the 35 to 39 year old age event. <\/p>\n
She was all set to do so Saturday, until she and other riders were hit by unexpected news. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got an email from the UCI 48 hours out from the race to say that I had been bumped up to the elite field,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reason cited was that I had 100 UCI points from the last UCI race that I competed in 14 months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mullens qualified for the gravel worlds this summer and, conscious about having UCI points, sought to ensure there wouldn\u2019t be an issue. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be certain I emailed them anyway [to make sure] that my UCI points weren\u2019t a problem,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd they replied quoting their own rulebook, which of course I had already read, and confirmed that any UCI points in a different discipline weren\u2019t relevant to gravel. Happy days. Age group worlds, here I come. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened between now and then? Well, one week ago, the UCI reversed that ruling to state that if you have any elite UCI points in any cycling discipline, you have to race elite at a world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mullen said that she understands rules change. She said she would accept it if new regulations modified things going forward from that point. However the issue is one of timing, and the UCI backtracking on what it had previously said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t give athletes one set of rules and let them spent thousands of dollars qualifying and travelling to a world championship,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then change rules the week before the race, and apply it retrospectively as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2019It feels like it has fallen on deaf ears\u2019<\/h2>\n
Mullen is clearly put out. She has incurred expenses and structured her plans around riding her age category at the worlds. It has clearly been an objective for months. However learning that she will be bumped up a level and will have to compete against current pro riders which far more experience is something she argues is wrong. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just affect me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt affects 12 other riders, half of whom have travelled from Europe. So how do I feel about it? Pretty pissed off, honestly. It feels unnecessarily unjust. Especially for a race that I was really hot to do on home soil.\u201d<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s races at the gravel worlds will take place on Saturday, with the elite men\u2019s race following on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Mullens said efforts to negotiate appear to have had no effect. <\/p>\n
\u201cMyself and other athletes who are affected have been in contact with the UCI representatives who are on the ground in the last 24 hours,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut it feels like it has all fallen on deaf ears. So tomorrow I will line up in the elite field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Left with no choice, she has chosen to approach that race with excitement, even if her chances of a big result have been seriously impacted. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo the UCI, this isn\u2019t about whether or not the rule is right or wrong,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about when you chose to apply it. We play by your rules all season and then you change them at the finish line. That\u2019s not cool. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut also it\u2019s not even a little bit surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/i-feel-pretty-pissed-off-uci-under-fire-rule-change\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-22305567.jpg”] Published October 9, 2026 03:02PM Cycling\u2019s governing body the UCI has caused controversy before with what riders and teams have said are unfair regulations. It is once more in the firing line Friday, with past Australian champion Peta Mullens accusing it of an unfair last minute rule change. Mullens, who was Australian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2189020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2189020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2189020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2189020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2189020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}