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

Preview. Round number 8 of the cyclocross World Cup will take place this Sunday, 17th of December, in Namur. It is one of the toughest and most iconic tracks of the season and always delivers fireworks.

It is a track that is extremely difficult. For one, the weather has not been so nice down here in Namur and there is mud on course. As it is visible from the riders' recon rides today, the tires get full of mud but also leaves and brambles because of the track's location. This is extremely wearing for the bikes and so bike changes will be constant. The course is known to be one of the hardest in the circuit and no doubt remains of that, there are several big ascents all throughout where pedaling is required, but they are not explosive sharp efforts as cyclocross usually presents.

We'll have efforts of almost up to a minute, but there are several long ones, and there will be several steep running sections which will be made hard by the lack of traction caused by the mud. Furthermore, this lack of traction may cause crashes in the course's long off-camber sections which can also cause difficulties. A race of endurance, not all riders will enjoy their time here, and it certainly will require a different type of effort when comparing to the regular cross.

How will this race pan out? The four big ladies are all present and promise to deliver a brilliant race! Fem van Empel and Lucinda Brand were perfectly balanced this Saturday in Herentals and both should love the climbing nature of Namur. Van Empel was slightly ill this week which may boost the chances of her rivals. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado was ill a couple weeks ago and not at her best since, but she leads the World Cup and will be motivated to grab all points she can as they will be necessary. She and Puck Pieterse have the advantage of not having raced today, not only do they come fresher but also with a bit more recon of a track that will require a lot of technique in it's downhill sections.

But we're blessed with a luxurious field. Both Annemarie Worst and Denise Betsema looked quite strong in Herentals and can contest for the podium, but they will not be alone. Last week Marion Norbert Riberolle and Manon Bakker were the winners in Essen and Val di Sole, the Crelan - Corendon riders are highly motivated and will also be cards to play. Alongside her, Zoe Bäckstedt and Marie Schreiber - the previous one specially - will also be in contention and I recon the Briton could really adore the brutal race that is ahead.

Aside from all of these however we'll still have a pretty strong field including the likes of Shirin van Anrooij and Blanka Kata Vas who are trying to build their best form, Inge van der Heijden, Aniek van Alphen, Leonie Bentveld, Sara Casasola, Francesca Baroni, Sidney McGill and Maghalie Rochette.

In the men's race another blast is expected. No Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert, but we've got an incredibly packed field at the start. Tom Pidcock deals with climbing courses very well and this is perhaps the biggest of them all. With the mud and tough conditions, Herentals' second spot proves he has the form and could strike big here. His compatriot Cameron Mason is also a serious victory contender in my opinion, it would be his first World Cup victory but in these courses there is no doubt that he will be at the head of the race. The other riders who I'd consider to be well suited to this course are Michael Vanthourenhout - the winner of the last two editions including World Championships - and possibly Lars van der Haar.

Eli Iserbyt will be on a battle of his own, as the only top rider focusing on the World Cup, he will want the points but can also contest for the victory on a good day although he may struggle with so much seated climbing. As outsiders for the podium, or perhaps more on a good day we've got the Baloise - Trek Lions duo of Pim Ronhaar and Joris Nieuwenhuis who've won at the World Cup this year, Laurens Sweeck and Niels Vandeputte who've also been putting on a few strong performances recently.

In a third line of strong contenders we've got Ryan Kamp, Gerben Kuypers, Kevin Kuhn, Corné van Kessel, Mees Hendrikx, Joran Wyseure, Toon Vandebosch, Jens Adams, Witse Meeussen and Thijs Aerts. All of them with their own chances of finishing on the Top10.

The women's race will start at 13:40 local time and is estimated to finish at 14:30 local time. The men's race is set to start at 15:10 local time and is estimated to finish at around 16:15 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 and Proximus (Belgium), Flobikes (Canada), NOS.nl (Netherlands), L'Équipe (France), Cezka Televize (Czech Republic), RaiPlay (Italy), TV2/Play Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).

PREDICTIONS:

Women's Elite
*** Fem van Empel
** Lucinda Brand, Zoe Bäckstedt
* Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Puck Pieterse, Annemarie Worst

Men's Elite
*** Tom Pidcock
** Cameron Mason, Michael Vanthourenhout
* Lars van der Haar, Pim Ronhaar, Eli Iserbyt