PREVIEW | Cyclocross Beekse Bergen World Cup Men&Women - Favourites, Track, TV Guide & Poll

The 5th round of the World Cup is just around the corner and it will take place in the Netherlands as the riders face a course that hadn't been used in many years, with the town of Beekse Bergen wildlife park (on the outskirts of Tilburg hosting the important event.

It will be a dry day with regular weather, which should see a dry track. The course will take place near a large lake and it will feature many sandy sections on a course that is mostly flat. The start is very wide with long turns turns and little technical sections, which should make for a very conservative start, where the main favourites will look to place themselves in the middle of the field and away from the wind. This will make for a compact race, one where the decisive attacks should come late on.

In the wooded section of the course there will be a few tight turns and little banks to be ridden, alongside several corners which feature relatively deep ruts where mistakes can take place. The second half of the course features a long winding section heading north and then back into the lakeside, with the barriers positioned in a sandy section, an unusual feature.

The main obstacle of the course will be a long sand section which features a 180º turn halfway through. Although it doesn't appear too complicated, it will be an area where gaps can be created. The riders will continue on a relatively sandy soft section before the finishing straight which will be considerably long and further benefit those who choose to ride in the wheels.

Taking into consideration how the past races have taken place, I expect a compact finale. The level is very even in the flat technical races, and Fem van Empel has opted for a strategy of attacking late in the race, I expect the same here. However it should be a very tactical race, here her level won't be overwhelmingly superior to the rest, in Maasmechelen Puck Pieterse and Shirin van Anrooij were at a very similar level and I expect similar here. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, just off a very motivating win in Niel will also be on fire, and the flat and not too technical course could even see Marianne Vos resist better and be a dangerous card for the finale. Blanka Kata Vas will be another card. Denise Betsema and Lucinda Brand, who will be returning following her hand injury, won't have an easy time on this course but could benefit from team tactics. The likes of Inge van der Heijden, Marie Schreiber, Hélène Clauzel, Clara Honsinger and Zoe Bäckstedt are also to consider if they find themselves on a good day, in the battle for the Top5.

A race that will be one of the hardest to consider. You have several favourites here, with Laurens Sweeck taking two big recent wins, clearly in good form and very well suited to sandy courses. At the same time however, Lars van der Haar showed great form in Niel in the sand pit and should be a threat. There, Eli Iserbyt suffered mechanicals, a flat and explosive course will also be good for him as he's shown earlier in the year. A race that should be very compact, the explosive riders such as Thibau Nys can be quite dangerous, with some men in form such as Kevin Kuhn, Joris Nieuwenhuis and Witse Meeussen as riders who I would not be surprised to see finish on the Top5, maybe even podium as they bring great form and are well suited to this type of race. Michael Vanthourenhout will be more of an outsider here I reckon, better courses will come. Pim Ronhaar, Toon Vandebosch, Niels Vandeputte, Corné van Kessel, Jens Adam, Michael Boros and Felipe Orts will also be riders to watch.

The women's race will start at 13:40 local time (13:40CET) and is estimated to finish at 14:30 local time (14:30CET). The men's race is set to start at 15:10 local time (15:10CET) and is estimated to finish at around 16:15 local time (16:15).

You can watch the broadcast of the race at the UCI website; GCN+/Eurosport Player internationally. The channels which will broadcast the race will be Flobikes (Canada/USA), Sporza and Proximus (Belgium), NOS (Nehterlands), L'ÉquipeTV (France), Ceská televize (Czech Republic), TV2 Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).

PREDICTIONS:

Women's Elite
*** Fem van Empel
** Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Puck Pieterse
* Shirin van Anrooij, Blanka Kata Vas, Marianne Vos

Men's Elite
*** Laurens Sweeck
** Lars van der Haar, Eli Isebyt
* Thibau Nys, Michael Vanthourenhout, Kevin Kuhn