PREVIEW | Cyclocross World Championships Hoogerheide Women's Elite - Favourites, Track, TV Guide & Poll

This 4th and 5th of February 2023 will see the Cyclocross World Championships in the track of Hoogerheide. It will be the climax of the season as riders of several different categories battle for their respective rainbow jerseys.

Grey skies will cover the Netherlands this weekend but rain is unlikely. The traditional track of Hoogerheide will be on display this weekend with it's grassy fields, several bridges and fast sections. It isn't a selective course which means that tactics will with no doubt be important and the first few laps are certainly going to see some mutual studying between the riders.

The second half features in quick succession the planks, an up and down bank section, a long stairs drag and an off-camber descent into the finishing straight. It is possible that some of the races will be decided only on the final lap and on this section. The finishing straight section features small uphill gradients but it is rather long and throughout the race will provide room for tactics to be played.

Overall it will be fast and explosive races surely. With dry conditions there is only one running section in the course and no true climbing or descending features that can create meaningful gaps. With no mud or sand in the mix, it will be up to the riders' form and technical abilities to keep the momentum all throughout the race.

A two-up battle? It may be, the emerging Dutch superstars Fem Van Empel and Puck Pieterse have taken many wins this year and will be the prime contenders to fight for the victory here. As van Aert and van der Poel did, they won in Hamme and Besançon respectively in dominant fashion. This is set to be a battle of the Dutch, with Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado also putting in a great deal of focus in this race in hopes of achieving a massive win and returning to the rainbow stripes. They are the most recent winners in the absence of Marianne Vos.

Last year Silvia Persico finished third in Fayetteville and she's popped back up with terrific form just in time for the worlds again, she will be in the fight for the medals. Annemarie Worst and Denise Betsema are also expected to be around the Top5, whilst the startlist also features the likes of Inge van der Heijden, Aniek van Alphen, Hélène Clauzel and Marion Norbert Riberolle.

The race will start this Saturday 4th February at 15:00 local time (15:00CET) and is estimated to finish at 15:50 local time (15:50CET).

You can watch the broadcast of the race at the UCI website; GCN+/Eurosport Player internationally. The channels which will broadcast the race will be Flobikes (Canada/USA), Sporza (Belgium), NOS (Netherlands), Ceská Televize (Czech Republic), TV2/Play Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).

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