PREVIEW | Cyclocross World Cup Cabras 2024-2025 Men & Women - Favourites, Track, TV Guide & Poll

Round 3 of the Cyclocross World Cup will take us to Italy another year. Whereas in the past we've had the 'snow cross', this year we preview the World Cup Cabras - a race on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia which features a summer landscape, a literal sand mountain but will be tackled in storm weather.

Note: The race was cancelled due to extremely strong winds.

It is an incredibly odd course in comparison to the traditional Belgian/Dutch track. It is one 'in the middle of nowhere' as described by Ben Freder and that's quite true, it's basically a cross taking place in an open field and beach. However despite having a lot of natural sand around, most of the sand sections are artificial which is definitely controversial in my fair opinion - it features a "sand hill" which should be quite interesting to watch though.

The course is virtually fully flat and right by the sea, the wind will be blowing very strongly and in the direction of the riders. This and the rain forecast shouldn't provide slipstreaming benefits but will change the race and make it less explosive. However there is little chance of mud developing on such a track because it's mostly a dry rocky field. Let's see, innovation can pay off in the end.

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Map Cabras World Cup 2024

Women's Elite

*** Lucinda Brand
** Laura Verdonschot, Annemarie Worst
* Sara Casasola, Hélène Clauzel, Francesca Baroni

Prediction: Lucinda Brand

This is a field that has been shed to the bare minimum. Lucinda Brand is the big headliner in this race, she will be the main favourite however the main reason for her presence is the big amount of points she will win over the absent Fem van Empel (and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado) which will propel her to the World Cup lead. No SD Worx duo, no Inge van der Heijden, Zoe Bäckstedt, Marion Norbert Riberolle, etc... 

Who will be present is sand specialist Laura Verdonschot, who I dare say can very well give Brand a run for her money. It's not an easy course to tackle and I would say the Belgian can take the biggest win of her career here. Behind them I expect big gaps. Annemarie Worst will take the opportunity to jump up the standings, behind only Sara Casasola can realistically fight for the podium - being the strongest home rider but someone who usually struggles in sand.

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Men's Elite

*** Eli Iserbyt
** Laurens Sweeck, Joran Wyseure
* Niels Vandeputte, Michael Vanthourenhout, Felipe Orts

Prediction: Eli Iserbyt

This will be a bombastic race I believe. Without the 'big hitters', cyclocross continues to have very exciting and diverse battles in the CX field and in such a course it's quite hard to predict which way it'll go. I think that although team tactics aren't likely, two teams of two will have the four main favourites for the day. On one side is Pauwels Sauzen who've got new cup leader Michael Vanthourenhout and Eli Iserbyt who won the sand cross in Antwerpen...

And on the other sand specialist duo from Crelan Laurens Sweeck and Joran Wyseure, also two riders who have won this year and perform better when we've got these very technical sections on course. But it won't be a battle between only these riders. Niels Vandeputte for a starters is also very consistent and there is no reason to believe he will not be there.

Then we have the Baloise Trek Lions riders this weekend, without Thibau Nys, but with Lars van der Haar and Pim Ronhaar to enter battle. Toon Aerts, third place in the World Cup; and sixth spot Felipe Orts will also be at the start and are also viable podium contenders on their best day.

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The women's race will start at 13:40 and end at around 14:30 local time. The men's race will start at 15:10 and end at 16:15 local time.

You can watch the broadcast of the race at the UCI website and Eurosport/Max internationally, as well as the traditional outlets. The channels which will broadcast the race will include Telenet Playsports and PickxSports (Belgium), Ceska Televize (Czech Republic), NOS (Netherlands), TV2 (Denmark) and Rai (Italy).

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