"There are not many people along the side of the course, but everyone is happy to participate" - Waterloo World Cup organiser thinks

This week the cyclo-cross world moves to Waterloo, USA, for the only remaining World Cup race in the United States. Every year there is a cry for help from the Flemish and Dutch cycling world that the trip to the other side of the pond is too expensive, or that it is unnecessary to make that long journey from our region for once a year. But how do they view this from America? WielerFlits listened to Chad Brown (CFO at Trek) and Scott Daubert (course manager of the cyclo-cross in Waterloo).

"Cross-country racing as a business element is of course relatively small. As a discipline, it is only a small part of our company. I would rather call our relationship with cyclo-cross a high passion commitment, one in which we are going way back. Our first successes in cross-country go back to the mid-1990s, when Matt Kelly won our first World Championship," says Brown.

"First and foremost, you have to understand that our season is structured differently than in Europe. In Wisconsin we have fifteen weekends of racing, starting the first weekend in September through the first part of December. During that period there is a cyclocross every Saturday and Sunday between Madison, where we live, and Chicago, a maximum of an hour's drive away. These competitions are more popular than ever, so I certainly wouldn't say that the enthusiasm is decreasing. But it is also not growing as fast as the gravel scene."

"I think it is dangerous to measure popularity based on spectator numbers alone. That doesn't say it all. Especially because cyclo-cross in America is much more participant-driven. The people who come to those races are people who actually buy bikes from Trek. Admittedly, there are not many people along the side of the course, but everyone is happy to participate. In Wisconsin you see large numbers of participants in local competitions: all people who share the same passion," adds Daubert.