Koksijde out of the World Cup for the upcoming Cyclocross season

One of the most iconic cyclocross tracks, Koksijde, will not be in the World Cup next season and is expected to be a part of the X2O Trofee instead.

"The decision has already been taken by the council of aldermen but now still has to be approved by the city council. The Duinencross [Koksijde] will take place next winter, but no longer as a world cup," Dirk Dawyndt, alderman of sport, said on an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

He added, "It is no longer financially justifiable to organize a race with public money. Moreover, Flanders Classics imposes too many restrictions on us, for example with regard to sponsoring. We want more control over our competition, also over the field of participants. The only obstacle is the date, but the two proposals we have received, one of which is during the Christmas holidays, are good for us."

After Namur, another big track disapears from the World Cup calendar next year. Koksijde is famous for it's massive sand dunes which see the riders go up and down teacherous features and make for a very popular fan destination, it's a race that always atracts the big names and they were won by Eli Iserbyt and Annemarie Worst this season.

Dawyndt questions: "Why should we pay a lot more for a place in the World Cup when it can be cheaper elsewhere and it is much more in return? Youth competitions, for example. We paid extra for this ourselves this year. Yes, you may know that we spoke to the people of Golazo. More than likely we will end up in the X2O Badkamer Trofee, and those races are also broadcast on television so nothing changes in terms of visibility."