Herentals cyclocross hosts star-studded field with Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Fem van Empel and Lucinda Brand

This weekend features two of the toughest crosses of the season, but the first one will not suffer from that. The X2O Badkamers Trofee round in Herentals sees the return of Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock to cyclocross, but many other stars will be present.

Pidcock initially opted to begin his season in Wout van Aert's hometown, and Mathieu van der Poel recently changed his calendar to also be present in the field this Saturday. They will face tough and seasoned competition however they will face tough competition. Lars van der Haar, Eli Iserbyt and Cameron Mason currently fight for the cup lead and will fight for every second. The likes of Michael Vanthourenhout and Laurens Sweeck will also be present, whilst Alpecin-Deceuninck's Quinten Hermans and Gianni Vermeersch also return to racing.

In the women's field we have no less of a competitive field. Whilst Fem van Empel comfortably leads the cup, she will not start this race with the same comfort as Lucinda Brand is also eager to resume racing after the brilliant results of late.

Despite the tough race, many big figures still opted to race Herentals and then make the drive over to Namur for Sunday's World Cup round. This will be an important race for the cup's classification, and will serve as the first big measuring of form of the two specialists coming in.