diff --git a/lib/query/woqlQuery.js b/lib/query/woqlQuery.js
index 831722c5..5c568e75 100644
--- a/lib/query/woqlQuery.js
+++ b/lib/query/woqlQuery.js
@@ -794,7 +794,7 @@ WOQLQuery.prototype.start = function (start, query) {
   // if (start && start === 'args') return ['start', 'query']
   if (this.cursor['@type']) this.wrapCursorWithAnd();
   this.cursor['@type'] = 'Start';
-  this.cursor.start = this.cleanObject(start, 'xsd:nonNegativeInteger');
+  this.cursor.start = start;
   return this.addSubQuery(query);
 };