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

Preview. Round 7 of the cyclocross is the most unique World Cup event of the year. At high altitude and in the snow, the riders tackle the Val di Sole race for an unique spectacle.

A race unlike any other, literally. The riders will find snow all-round, in some sections a little more, in others a little less. It is a race of technique, because all riders will make mistakes, and the ones that avoid them the most will have a nice advantage - and will keep concentration and momentum. Course-wise, it's a bumpy track but not with too many features, but the feature is the snow and that can't be avoided.

Hence this is not a race for tactics, but one of survival. You can't really follow wheels, it's just a matter of finding your pace and holding the lines in the technical sections. Plenty ruts will be built all across the course. Riders will also have to take it carefully in some sections where it can be very slippery, crashes and subsequent injuries can happen and that will be a bad way of ending an international trip that will be costly - and right before the Christmas block.

Only 28 riders in the women's field and it's one that is incredibly modest, one of the weakest of the whole season when it comes to televised racing. Two figures at the top, one is Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, the World Cup leader, who comes as she sees the opportunity to take in easy points and perhaps a victory. She missed competition last weekend due to illness but comes back here and will face Puck Pieterse.

The Dutch supertalent is a technically gifted rider and should enjoy the snowy conditions, however her form was not the best upon returning to the discipline and for the time being, it is not yet certain if she may have the legs to top Alvarado. The two should have a relatively well balanced fight for victory however. And for third spot we'll have Manon Bakker and Italian rider Sara Casasola fighting for the honours. The latter was on the podium of the European Championships and could actually surprise. The field dips down quite significantly behind however, it lacks the depth. We can see other riders close to the top places such as Kristyna Zemanová, Maghalie Rochette and Sidney McGill.

The men's race however does feature a stronger field. Several riders took this weekend off from racing, to prepare for training or take a rest ahead of an important part of the season. Hence several big names are missing but we have good depth. In these conditions and altitude, a surprise could happen too. Take a look at the race in Boom last week where Joris Nieuwenhuis and Cameron Mason were head and shoulders above the rest. Both are present here again, clearly in good form, and will be very interesting riders to follow as they both search their maiden World Cup wins.

Eli Iserbyt is present after last week's win in Flamanville, last year he struggled in these conditions but he has the chance to extend his lead over both Pim Ronhaar and Lars van der Haar who skip the race. Laurens Sweeck and Ryan Kamp have focus in the cup standings and will be looking to take advantage and get closer to the podium here, both can do a good race but will have a hard time in the fight for victory. Michael Vanthourenhout, Niels Vandeputte and Kevin Kuhn made the podium last year and they will all be present, as nice outsiders for the victory.

Then we've got a few other cards to play for such as Corné van Kessel, Toon Vandebosch and Joran Wyseure for example who have had strong performances this winter and, in the right circumstances, can be in the fight for the podium.

The women's race will start at 13:10 local time and is estimated to finish at 14:50 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 and Proximus (Belgium), Flobikes (Canada) and NOS.nl (Netherlands).

PREDICTIONS:

Women's Elite
*** Puck Pieterse
** Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Sara Casasola
* Manon Bakker, Kristyna Zemanová, Maghalie Rochette

Men's Elite
*** Joris Nieuwenhuis
** Cameron Mason, Eli Iserbyt
* Niels Vandeputte, Kevin Kuhn, Michael Vanthourenhout