IOC delays cyclocross Olympic decision until summer after 'constructive and positive' talks with UCI

The decision on which new disciplines will be added to the 2030 winter games, which is set to be hosted in the French Alps, will be taken in February at the IOC session that precedes the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, a landmark 25th edition of the games. 

In the 2026 edition, there are set to be 116 events in 8 sports across 16 disciplines, but the hope for many is that the number will increase ahead of 2030, with the inclusion of cyclocross. 

Among those who have supported the idea is World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who indicated the willingness of the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, when it came to the idea of adding cyclocross and cross-country running to the winter games, with Coe stating, “I think there’s a good chance it’ll happen.”

The UCI Sports Director, Peter Van Den Abeele, also expressed his confidence and confirmed that support from two of the sport's biggest stars in seven-time and reigning cyclocross world champion Mathieu van der Poel, as well as road world champion Tadej Pogačar. "We asked those men to make a video, which we could send to the organising committee of the 2030 Winter Games and also to the IOC," revealed Van Den Abeele in November. 

A setback occurred when the Winter Olympic Federation, which represents the governing bodies of sports including skiing, biathlon and bobsled, indicated its disapproval of the inclusion of sports that don’t take place specifically on snow or ice, suggesting that “such an approach would dilute the brand heritage and identity that make the Olympic Winter Games unique.”

According to information from Het Laatste Nieuws, further recent positive and constructive discussions between the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have taken place.

However, the IOC isn’t set to make a decision at the upcoming IOC session in February, and instead will wait until the Summer to draw its conclusion. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, according to Het Laatste Nieuws’s sources, as there is general positivity and optimism by various parties within cycling that believe the IOC’s decision to extend the timeframe for a verdict means that the committee is very much still considering the possibility of adding cyclocross to the winter games. 

If cyclocross is successfully added to the roster for the 2030 games, one potential location for the event could be La Planche des Belles Filles, home to one of the most iconic moments in Tour de France history, when Pogačar stole the yellow jersey from Primož Roglič on the penultimate stage in 2020, with L’Equipe reporting in June that a formal bid had been prepared. 

It remains to be seen if the likes of Van der Poel, currently 30 years old, Wout van Aert, 31, and 36-year-old Lucinda Brand are still racing come 2030, but with rising stars such as Thibau Nys and Tibor Del Grosso coming to the fore, cyclocross would nonetheless be an exciting addition to the winter games if the process came to fruition, and a boost for generations to come.