Il Pinkbike portal he scrutinizes the UCI regulation carefully and shows us the changes compared to previous years.
The semifinals are worth fewer points
While we still don't know exactly how the semi-finals will play out and whether it will feel like a second qualifying or a second race, we can now see that the points tally has been significantly reduced. Previously, a win in the Elite Men's Semifinal awarded 200 points, just 50 points less than in the Finals. Under the updated rules, the same victory in the semi-final will now offer 100 points to the winner, 150 points less than a victory in the final.
There were concerns before that the semi-finals could become nearly equal to the finals in level of importance to the drivers, but with this update, that will most likely change as it doesn't award many more points than qualifying.
Points for a win are once again equal for men and women.
Protected athlete: here are the changes
In addition to all the points changes, the new rules update has added some extra statements about protected athletes. The first change is that in addition to the first three Elite men and women from the previous season, the best-placed riders in the current standings (who are not already included) can be added up to a total of 5 women and 10 men.
A clause has also been added according to which if a rider in the first two groups does not confirm his entry, the place will not be occupied by another rider.
In addition to this, a specific rule for the first round states that it will be the top five Elite women and top 10 Elite men from last season who will be protected for the final. This is an increase from the top three women and five men in the previous rule change. These riders will have to participate in the semi-finals but will be protected.
No more timed workouts?
The biggest casualty of the new rules may be the removal of the most important event of a race weekend, timed qualifying. In the latest rules update, it would appear that the rules regarding the existence of a timed training session have been completely removed. This means that it is no longer mandatory in a World Cup round but we will see if it can be included, also for safety reasons, as an option.