For years it’s was the one thing that definitively separated mountain biking from its road-racing cousin. If you get a flat, you fix it. Bust your chain, get out the chain tool. But that will all change starting next year when the UCI introduces a rule that will allow outside technical assistance in cross-country races at World Cup and world championship events.

The details of exactly how it’s all going to work are still a little murky, but Regis Alexandre, the president of the UCI mountain bike commission, says he envisions two or three pit zones where riders can swap out everything but the frame. The new rule will also allow teammates to exchange parts, meaning the era of cross-country domestiques may well have arrived.

“We can not accept that the best rider in the world with a lot of sponsors can lose a race just because of a puncture,” said Alexandre in an exclusive interview with VeloNews. “Besides we already know that some teams use the system where they have tubes and tools in the bottles to give to riders. It is hypocrisy if we don’t authorize assistance when we already know it is happening.”

Other changes on the way for next year include the elimination of radio use during cross-country races, a move Alexandre said is meant to reduce suspect team tactics.

“If the team leader has a mechanical problem and in the front of the race he has a teammate,” explained Alexandre, “we don’t want the director to be able to tell the rider at the front to cut the speed or block the race to wait for the leader.”

The UCI is also planning on setting up a separate ranking system for the marathon (there will be four in total: cross-country, downhill, four-cross and marathon). In years past, UCI points from marathon races have been lumped in with the cross-country, which was the main reason several of America’s Olympic hopefuls were forced to race at this year’s marathon world’s in Austria.

As for the World Cup series itself, there had been some talk of replacing the circuit with a model similar to the UCI Pro Tour that will go into effect on the road next year. But that plan was scrapped and Alexandre said he expects to have a strong series that will include eight rounds for cross-country and at least seven for the other three disciplines. There will be some combined-discipline and some run separately.

The official schedule has yet to be released, but several trade team sources told VeloNews that next year’s slate will likely include stops in Canada (probably Mont-Ste-Anne); the U.S. (Angel Fire, New Mexico); Germany (in conjunction with the BIKE-Festival at Willingen); Fort William, Scotland (probable site for the series finale); Houffalize, Belgium (cross-country only); Schladming, Austria (gravity only); and Madrid (cross-country only).

Expect to see the official schedule made public during next weekend’s World Cup finals in Livigno, Italy.

Injury report
There’s a host of big names missing from this week’s world championships in Les Gets, France, with the women’s downhill taking the biggest hit. Top contenders Tracy Moseley and Sabrina Jonnier are both out.

Jonnier (Intense) lacerated her liver at a four-cross event in Whistler in late July and has still not been cleared to race. Instead she’s spending her time this week advising members of her French national team and cheering on her boyfriend, men’s downhill medal contender Sam Hill of Australia.

Moseley (Kona Clarks-Les Gets) separated her right shoulder and tore her rotator cuff after crashing hard during a training ride at the last round of the Maxxis Cup in Port-Aine, Spain last weekend.

Moseley came wide on a corner and caught her foot in a small bush along the side of the track. The hang-up stopped her dead and she went flying over the bars and onto her shoulder. It took three hours to get the U.K. rider down the hill, and the damage will keep her off the bike for at least a month.

Before beginning rehab, though, Moseley made sure she didn’t surrender her lead in the Maxxis series. The day after her crash she arrived at the top of the hill with a cross-country bike, and split time between walking and riding, slowly making it to the bottom of the course.

“If she didn’t ride it was possible that she could lose the series by four points,” explained Kona team manager Russell Carty. “So she loaded up on pain killers, strapped up the arm and got to the finish.”

Carty said Moseley’s “run” took 27 minutes compared to about four for race winner Celine Gros.

The men’s cross-country will also be without two of Canada’s best riders. As reported earlier this week, two-time world champion Roland Green is out with a virus. Also missing will be 2004 Olympian Seamus McGrath. According to a Canadian team source, McGrath cut several tendons in his hand during an inner tube outing in August, and while he was able to ride in the Olympics, doctors advised him that he needed to get surgery straight after or risk long-term damage to his hand.

The women's DH is Chausson's to lose
With Moseley and Jonnier out of action, the women’s downhill is likely to be the most lopsided affair of the weekend in Les Gets. After contesting a light race schedule this summer, Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson is hoping to win her ninth straight elite downhill world title.

Despite a Thursday-afternoon seeding run that Chausson called “filled with mistakes,” only one other rider was within six seconds of the Commencal-Oxbow pro. Chausson carded a day’s best 3:04.51, with Kiwi Vanessa Quin next quickest, at 5.37. Swiss rider Marielle Saner was third, at 10.26. Marla Streb was the top American in fifth, at 12.61. The women’s downhill is slated for Saturday morning.

After her seeding run Chausson said that this will be her last world’s, though she left open the option that she might come back in two years.

“Next year will just be for fun,” she told VeloNews. “Maybe some small races, but no World Cup and no world championships. I wanted to do just world’s this year, but it is not possible. You need to train and do races before.”

To get ready this time around Chausson warmed up at the European championships in Poland, which she won convincingly over Saner.

“I had to race with pressure to get used to it again,” she explained, adding that she’ll honor her four-year deal with Commencal, but not as a racer. “I still want to ride, but I don’t want the pressure anymore. Too many times in the past I was at the races wondering what I was doing there. That’s when I knew it was time to change. But if I do miss racing then maybe I will come back in 2006. We’ll just have to see what happens.” Pressure on Peat
As if he needed any more weight on his shoulders, Steve Peat carded the fastest downhill qualifying time on Thursday, meaning he’ll be the last man down the steep Mont Chery course Saturday afternoon. Peat posted a 2:44:00 on the 1.3-mile descent, with fellow Brit Gee Atherton second at 2.31. Frenchman Cédric Gracia was third at 4.60.

As is almost always the case, there was lots of gamesmanship during the seeding run. Reigning world champion Greg Minnaar stopped momentarily on the side of the course, and ended up in 46th. Aussie Sam Hill took the slow-time strategy to a new high, posting a second-to-worst 17:41.19.

“He’ll end up where we want him to end up,” said Minnaar’s Team G Cross Honda manager Martin Whiteley when asked what the strategy was. But Whiteley later admitted that Minnaar had gone “slower than they’d planned.”

The concern is that if it does rain on Saturday, it’s more likely to happen later in the afternoon when the top qualifiers will be on course. The men’s downhill starts at 1:30.

Meanwhile, Peat wasn’t playing games in his quest to finally win a world title after finishing second in three of the last four world’s. The Orange rider is just back on the bike after breaking his collarbone a month ago, but said he felt fine during the seeding run. Peat will skip the four-cross in order to save all his strength for the marquee gravity event.

One unfit
The UCI announced that one rider was declared unfit to race after it conducted 22 blood tests on Friday morning. Spain’s Alejandro Diaz De La Peña (elite cross-country) was ruled unfit to race following the testing session. Athletes from three countries were tested, with France and the Czech Republic also getting visits from the anti-doping doctors.