08/01/2023

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

The 12th round of the World Cup takes place this Sunday the 8th of January in Zonhoven. It is the last of the Christmas block races which closes a very busy period for the riders. In addition, it will be the final round in Belgium of the World Cup in the mythical sand dunes of Zonhoven.

The weather has improved ever so slightly, and it's not expected to be a muddy race, so a slightly faster affair than in the last few weeks. However, the course itself features very tough and technical sections in the sand that are most noteworthy. The sand dune area will be the main attraction and possible most vital part of the course, with technical descent, running climbs and off-camber sections all present, where gaps will inevitably be created.

Video course 2023 Zonhoven World Cup. Via Puck Pieterse/Youtube

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It's a very explosive track no doubt, with several little sand sections, tight corners and small banks throughout the course. It is a race that won't allow for many tactics to be played out because it'll be far from a consistent effort, and although it's mostly flat, there just isn't a significant amount of calm and flatter sections with the exception of the finishing straight and the seconds that follow.

Hence it is a race that will likely explode from early on, with the best likely having a big fight for positioning in the opening minutes of the race so as to tackle the main sand sectors as well positioned as possible. From there, it's unlikely that things will calm down, it'll be a long race where it will also be very important to try and avoid mistakes as they can easily happen here.

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The women's race will be quite open I reckon. Over the season there has been a big balance between Fem van Empel, Puck Pieterse and Shirin van Anrooij. The first won the majority of the races, but van Anrooij has seemed to be very good in the sandy races and Pieterse has grown into the most technically gifted figure in the field. I expect a tight battle between the three, and many big riders fighting for the spots around and just behind the podium as all the main figures will be present.

Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado can on a good day be fighting for the victory aswell. Marianne Vos and Denise Betsema I believe won't have an easy time in the sand, but will be out and around. The likes of Silvia Persico, Blanka Kata Vas and Sanne Cant are between those that I expect a performance better than normal. However the list of contenders also includes Annemarie Worst, Inge van der Heijden, Aniek van Alphen, Zoe Bäckstedt, Marie Schreiber and Manon Bakker.

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In the men's race I hardly imagine a battle outside of Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel. The latter possibly nervous about back issues, however van Aert with today's effort in Gullegem present in the legs. It can be an interesting battle, I don't think the course favors van Aert as Koksijde did for example. The battle for the World Cup will be the second main sub-plot with Laurens Sweeck trying to survive the surge of Michael Vanthourenhout, and both should enjoy the sandy course in my opinion.

Niels Vandeputte is also a rider who has seemed to perform very well in these tricky circuits, I have high expectations of the Belgian. He and Lars van der Haar are contenders for the podium here I believe. Jens Adams, Quinten Hermans, Pim Ronhaar, Joris Nieuwenhuis, Kevin Kuhn and Toon Vandebosch will be riders to keep an eye on.

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The women's race will start at 13:40 local time (13:40CET) and is estimated to finish at 14:30 local time (14:30CET). The men's race is set to start at 15:10 local time (15:10CET) and is estimated to finish at around 16:15 local time (16:15CET).

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 and Proximus (Belgium), L'Équipe (France), Ceská Televize (Czech Republic), Rai Sport (Italy), TV2/Play Danmark (Denmark) and TV2 Norge (Norway).