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

Preview. The latest round of the 2023/24 Cyclocross UCI World Cup takes place on Sunday the 29th of October in Maasmechelen, Belgium on another critical day in the early part CX calendar, with many of the discipline's main stars going head-to-head for important points.

After much, vocal criticism of last year's course in Maasmechelen, changes have been made by the race organisers. “I won't come back here next year if things are still like this. It is not World Cup worthy,” was Eli Iserbyt's scathing assessment and it seems he has been heard because the former mining site in the Terhills nature reserve has been edited to hopefully appease the riders.

"I think Eli's criticism was mainly about the many sharp bends in the zone of the then post. That is why we have now moved the material station to the event meadow. That part of the trail has recently been completely rebuilt," organiser Chris Mannaerts recently told Wielerflits. In turn though this brings it's own issues. "By removing the material post and making the bends less perpendicular, the stones will be exposed less quickly. This mainly happened due to heavy braking. Look, the surface is what it is. It will always remain stony, as is the case with all mining sites – also look at Beringen and Genk. But without sharp bends the danger is much smaller and three volunteers have been removing the largest loose stones all week. It's best to stay away from the solid stones.”

When it comes to the women's race, there is a sole standout favourite. The winner of the opening round of the World Cup in Waterloo and the current World Champion, Fem van Empel. It's still relatively early in the season but the 21-year-old Dutchwoman has won all four of the cyclocross races she has competed in this campaign.

With Puck Pieterse absent once again, her teammate, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado is likely to be van Empel's biggest challenger, having already been second to the World Champion twice this season.

19-year-old prodigy Zoe Backstedt, fifth at the World Cup opener in Waterloo and third at Nacht van Woerden remains something of an unknown quantity but the Brit is clearly in good form and could spring a surprise on Sunday. Other challenges to van Empel are likely to come from the likes of Inge van der Heijden, Annemarie Worst and Manon Bakker.

The women's race will start at 13:40 (CET) and is estimated to finish at 14:25 (CET).

*** Fem van Empel

** Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Zoe Bäckstedt,

* Annemarie Worst, Manon Bakker, Inge van der Heijden.

In the men's it's slightly more difficult to select an outright favourite. Thibau Nys is probably the man most fancied after his impressive start to the cyclocross campaign. The 20-year-old Belgian starlet has two race wins and a fourth place (that could so easily have been a third victory) under his belt so far and is the early World Cup leader, albeit just one race having been completed.

The man who was most vocally critical of the Maasmechelen course last year, Eli Iserbyt will surely be there or thereabouts as always. Having finished second behind Nys in Waterloo, Iserbyt was the main benefactor of the young Belgian's dramatic late slip up in Overijse, as he pounced to take victory.

The winner in Maasmechelen last year though was Laurens Sweeck and whilst the Crelan - Corendon rider has been battling a calf injury of late, a second-placed finish at Nacht van Woerden shows signs that he could be nearing a return to his best.

Elsewhere the likes of Michael Vanthourenhout, Lars van der Haar and Pim Ronhaar look the most likely challengers with British national champion Cameron Mason, Gerben Kuypers and Niels Vandeputte taking the tag of dark horses.

The men's race is set to start at 15:10 (CET) and is estimated to finish at around 16:15 (CET).

*** Thibau Nys

** Eli Iserbyt, Laurens Sweeck

* Michael Vanthourenhout, Lars van der Haar, Pim Ronhaar

According to the latest weather forecasts for the area, it will not be a dry race for the riders. There is some rain expected for the afternoon and evening time and with winds of four Beaufort being predicted it could also be rather breezy in Belgium.

You can watch the broadcast of the race on 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), Ceská Televize (Czech Republic), TV2 Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).