PREVIEW | Cyclocross Dublin 2023 World Cup Men&Women - Favourites, Track, TV Guide & Poll

Preview. Round 5 of the cyclocross World Cup will take place in Dublin. It is the fourth country visited in this competition and some of the discipline's best will be present in Ireland on this 25th of November.

Not much rain, it can fall during the races themselves, but the weather won't be too bad in Ireland over the weekend. As is the case with the racing in the USA and France, it's a wide and grassy course. But here we will not have gradients, instead a mostly flat race, with planks and an artificial sand section, and a few banks throughout the course. Extremely fast, if it was the summer. However recently temperatures almost go into the negatives in Dublin, the morning thaw together with riders doing course recon - and early races - will make the race muddy.

The race will be an grind, it's very far from an explosive race but instead one with long efforts. Alongside the travel that some riders did today, we can expect some different results in this race in comparison to the normal I'd say.

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado took over the cup lead last week and departs as the main favourite. Both Fem van Empel and Puck Pieterse are absent as they do not chase the World Cup. Neither does Lucinda Brand honestly so Alvarado only depends on herself. She is a strong runner and will be the woman to beat, specially as Brand has raced today in Kortrijk. Her main competition will come from Brand and Zoe Bäckstedt who likes the muddy conditions and so will be in her element.

Behind, a race for possible podium places, and for minor World Cup positions. Inge van der Heijden, Denise Betsema, Leonie Bentveld and Aniek van Alphen on the Dutch side, whilst Sara Casasola and Marie Schreiber come as outsiders - although both within a shot for a Top5.

The fight for the World Cup lead. It's Eli Iserbyt's chance to extend it as Lars van der Haar is absent (and so is mud expert Joris Nieuwenhuis). He will remain the cup leader but the race will be tough for him, the long draining races are not his style, but will suit other riders. Michael Vanthourenhout would be one, but after the crash in Kortrijk it's quite unknown how he'll approach the race. Pim Ronhaar could be a huge threat, the Dutch rider won in Dendermonde, he'll like the muddy conditions and saved himself today.

The mud should also suit Laurens Sweeck who is trying to return to the top of the sport after a difficult start to the season and Cameron Mason who was third today in Kortrijk. Then we've got of course Thibau Nys who will be an unknown, he could finish first or outside the Top10 and neither would be a surprise. Gerben Kuypers also has a lot of potential and saved himself for this race, so have Ryan Kamp and Kevin Kuhn. Others will be there but have raced today such as Corné van Kessel, Niels Vandeputte, Jens Adams and Toon Vandebosch.

The women's race will start at 13:10 local time and is estimated to finish at 14:00 local time. The men's race is set to start at 14:40 local time and is estimated to finish at around 15:45 local time.

You can watch the broadcast of the race at the UCI website; GCN+/Eurosport Player internationally. The channels which will broadcast the race will include Telenet PlaySports and Proximus (Belgium), Flobikes (Canada), NOS.nl (Netherlands), L'Équipe (France), Ceská Televize (Czech Republic), RaiPlay (Italy), TV2 Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).

PREDICTIONS:

Women's Elite
*** Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado
** Zoe Bäckstedt, Lucinda Brand
* Inge van der Heijden, Denise Betsema, Sara Casasola

Men's Elite
*** Pim Ronhaar
** Michael Vanthourenhout, Eli Iserbyt
* Laurens Sweeck, Gerben Kuypers, Cameron Mason