Talks planned over cyclocross event at Winter Olympics

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad is reporting that a meeting is to take place next week between the UCI and Olympic organisers to explore the possibility of adding cyclocross to the Winter Games.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, the UCI's off-road coordinator Peter Van Den Abeele will hold talks with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) sports director, Christophe Dubi with a view to raising the prospect of including cyclocross perhaps as early as 2018.

However, while cyclocross is primarily practised in winter, there is one major obstacle to its inclusion in the Winter Games. The IOC's Olympic Charter sets out the criteria used to determine whether or not a sport merits inclusion, and rule 6 contains a critical clause: "Only those sports which are practised on snow or ice are considered as winter sports."

While rule 6 appears to categorically rule out cyclocross, Het Nieuwsblad is reporting that this stipulation could be modified to allow cyclocross and cross-country running to be added to the schedule.

UCI President Brian Cookson has previously spoken in support of adding cyclocross to the games. Addressing the Belgian cycling federation in November of last year, he voiced optimism that "perhaps the IOC will review rule 6 sometime. They are missing something at present."

Cyclocross is currently the only major cycling discipline not represented at the Olympic Games. Its inclusion would likely encourage national federations to invest more funding in the sport.