The newest event at the UCI Road World Championships, the trade team time trial for men and women, could be on the chopping block as soon as 2020, with new president David Lappartient reportedly saying he plans to eliminate the race because teams are not interested in continuing.
"These events will take place in Innsbruck in 2018 and Yorkshire in 2019," Lappartient said, according to Direct Velo. "But by 2020, and at the request of the teams, the team time trial will be eliminated."
The UCI added the event to the Worlds in 2012 in Valkenburg, the Netherlands, with 12 women's teams and 32 men's squads competing for the title. Specialized-Lululemon and Omega Pharma-QuickStep won the first titles.
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The next year in Florence, there were 16 and 35 teams, respectively, with both teams repeating as world champions. But as the Worlds moved to venues distant from most teams' service courses, the expense of moving all the teams' gear to Qatar led to a revolt of the men's teams against UCI rules requiring their participation in 2016.
The UCI fended off a complete boycott of the event by making participation voluntary.
In Doha, just eight women's teams and 17 men's squads took part – with only eight WorldTour teams racing. There were similar numbers this year in Bergen when Team Sunweb won the both races, with 11 WorldTour teams amongst the 17 participating squads.
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