Home > News

UCI cyclocross world championships preview: the contenders

January 29, 2015
Share on SMS

Saturday and Sunday is the setting for the culmination of a thrilling cyclocross season at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic. The last time Tabor hosted the worlds in 2010, home favourite Zdeněk Štybar and Dutch powerhouse Marianne Vos emerged from the snowy conditions with elite rainbow jerseys. Who are the favourites this year?

Here’s what Tabor looked like on Thursday morning.

Canadian Mical Dyck has her work cut out for her on Saturday with seven-time champion (including the last six) Vos leading the pack of contenders. Vos will have her eyes on World Cup champion Sanne Cant (Belgium), who has a strong finishing kick. American Katie Compton was runner-up to Cant and won the World Cup event in Valkenberg, the Netherlands. She tends to mount late comebacks. However, Compton’s allergies can be triggered by the cold, as in the final World Cup event in Hoogerheide.

Riders fighting for the hole shot will be Ellen van Loy (Belgium), Eva Lechner (Italy) and Sophie de Boer (The Netherlands). Home favourite Katerina Nash might find the course too flat for her style. One would be remiss not to include in a list of favourites French sensation Pauline Ferrand Prevot, the French cyclocross, road race, time trial and mountain bike champion. Oh, and world road champion.

The men’s field is equally as engaging, especially with the inclusion of two young riders who could be riding the U23 but have opted for the elite race. Wout van Aert (Belgium) and Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands) both won World Cup events this season, and Van Aert is the current U23 champion.

Another factor in the men’s elite race is that reigning champion Štybar is out of the worlds after an early season injury and Sven Nys (Belgium) has suffered from a mysterious lack of form. Into this vacuum steps not only the two glittering youths, but also new World Cup champion Kevin Pauwels, a Belgian who can fight through the field, and last season’s World Cup winner Lars van der Haar (The Netherlands), who is handy in the snow.

Canadians Mike Garrigan, Aaron Schooler and Mark McConnell will be familiar with American Jeremy Powers, eighth ranked the world. Powers pummeled the competition in the Pro CX series in the United States, and his top World Cup placing was at the first event in Valkenburg, the Netherlands.

Things kick off Saturday morning, 11:00 am local time with the Junior men’s race featuring Winnipeg’s Danick Vandale, before the elite women’s contest at 14:00. Sunday opens with Canadians Willem Boersma, Quinton Disera, Oliver Evans, Liam Mulcahy and Stefan Ritter in the men’s U23 race at eleven bells and the weekend closes with the elite men’s race at 14:00.