World Cup Koksijde Cyclocross: Startlist, Map, Favorites, how to watch Mathieu van der Poel in the USA and UK

Round 5 of the cyclocross World Cup will take place this Sunday, December 21st, in Koksijde. It is the second race of the 'Christmas Block' and will feature Mathieu van der Poel, who has just won the Antwerp World Cup. We take a look at the startlist of the Koksijde race, and where to watch it online, on TV, in the USA and UK.

Koksijde is one of the most iconic tracks on the cyclocross circuit, featuring in its course several moments where the riders go down its steep sand banks on the bike, whilst running back up on the other side. A technical track, very fast outside of its sand sectors.

In the morning, there will be junior races for the men (start at 09:30CET), women (start at 10:35CET) and men's under-23 (start at 12:00CET). In the beginning of the afternoon, the women's elite race will start at 13:40CET and should end at approximately 14:30CET. The men's race begins at 15:10CET and should end at around 16:15CET. 

The race will be broadcast on Eurosport and HBO Max/Discover+ as is usual, as well as the UCI's Youtube channel live (subjected to geo-restriction). Furthermore this race will be broadcast in:

Mathieu van der Poel is the man to beat, there isn't much math to do either, he is simply above the competition and with the absence of Wout van Aert and Thibau Nys, there are less riders who even on their very best day could potentially put up a fight.

Laurens Sweeck is the new world cup leader, and could increase it as Nys was pulled out of the race on team orders. Michael Vanthourenhout, Joris Nieuwenhuis and Niels Vandeputte are within striking distance and will want to move up the standings in the world cup. Sweeck has 116 points and mathematically speaking, van der Poel could move into the lead as he has 80 and is likely to already go up to 120 with this race.

The Dutch have Lars van der Haar, Pim Ronhaar, Tibor del Grosso, Ryan Kamp and Mees Hendrikx who can perform well here; the Belgians have Toon Aerts, Emiel Verstrynge, Jente Michels, Joran Wyseure, Toon Vandebosche and Victor van de Putte... Felipe Orts, Kevin Kuhn, Cameron Mason, Andrew Strohmeyer, Filippo Agostinacchio and Michael Boros will all also be at the start.

With another win in the bank, Lucinda Brand is back to the lead of the world cup. She is the woman to beat, although the dominance isn't the same as in the men's field and in Antwerp she really had to fight hard for it. Aniek van Alphen follows closely, but Brand is in a strong position.

The Dutchwoman will mainly have to face her compatriots, a few of them coming in with great form into the Christmas block, and with much less racing and fatigue from earlier in the winter. Inge van der Heijden, Manon Bakker, Puck Pieterse, Leonie Bentvelt, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado and Shirin van Anrooij are all part of the Dutch block to the race.

Amandie Fouquenet, Célia Gery, Marion Norbert Riberolle, Sara Casasola, Lucia Bramati, Lizzy Gunsalus, Kristyna Zemanova and Marie Schreiber will all be present in the race.