This 9th of October will see the first round of the 2022-2023 Cyclocross World Cup, a critical day in the CX calendar which will see many of the discipline's main stars go head-to-head for important.
The weather has been dry in Waterloo over the last few days and this is expected to be a fast race. As is traditional in the USA the course is very grassy and features a lot of pedalling-heavy sections, which should see a fast and relatively compact with tactics coming into play, aswell as the timing in which the main attacks are set to come.
The most important part of the circuit will be in it's middle as the riders head into a wooded section, with a very steep ramp and a set of stairs in quick succession which should be the only two places where the riders will dismount on the track. Besides these, the main technical features of the course are a few off-camber descents which can be tricky, but both start and finish of the circuit are relatively more calm, and include several 15-20 second areas without features or gradients where riding in the wheel can be profitable, but to reel in attacks is also easier.
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I expect a compact race on the men's side, with Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt racing strategically to let gaps go and force rivals to close gaps. The decisive attack, if gaps are to be successful at all, should come inside the final half of the race when the fatigue starts to set in, it will be risky to make a move early on.
On the women's side I believe it won't be as compact of a race, but at the same time the short distances won't make it easy for attacks to stick. Fem van Empel and Lucinda Brand appear to be in very similar levels, but with Annemarie Worst already in the USA for several weeks racing on similar tracks, it will make for an interesting battle.
The women's race will start at 12:30 local time (19:30CET) and is estimated to finish at 13:15 local time (20:15CET). The men's race is set to start at 14:00 local time (21:00CET) and is estimated to finish at around 15:05 local time (22:05).
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 Sporza and Proximus (Belgium), Flobikes (Canada), L'EquipeTV (France), Ceská Televize (Czech Republic), TV2 Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).
PREDICTIONS:
Women's Elite
*** Fem van Empel
** Lucinda Brand, Annemarie Worst
* Denise Betsema, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Clara Honsinger
Men's Elite
*** Michael Vantourenhout
** Eli Iserbyt, Lars van der Haar
* Laurens Sweeck, Pim Ronhaar, Vincent Baestaens
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