Team Canada ready for cyclocross World Championships

On Monday, Cycling Canada named a 13-athlete Team Canada squad for this weekend’s UCI cyclocross World Championships in Bogense, Denmark.

Located on Danish island Funen, the Bogense course is notorious for the sharp winds that blow off the sea and for grades that require many riders to run. In last season’s World Cup, Mathieu van der Poel and Sanne Cant took the victories.

Four national champions will fly the colours on the weekend: Gunnar Holmgren, Magahlie Rochette, Ruby West and Michael van den Ham. West was the best Canadian at the final World Cup event of the season in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands on Sunday. West’s under-23 women teammates Dana Gilligan, Kelly Lawson, Sidney McGill, and Magdeleine Vallieres Mill all raced Hoogerheide, as did Rochette, who did not finish.

Junior men Ryan Maclean, Conor Martin and Paul Mysko will be the first Canucks to race on Saturday. Holmgren and Tyler Orschel roll two hours later with the under-23 men and Rochette is the sole Canadian to contest Saturday’s final race, the elite women.

Brit Tom Pidcock seems likely to repeat as U23 men champion, but Rochette’s race has many contenders: Cant, World Cup titlist Marianne Vos, Lucinda Brand, Denise Betsema, Marianne Worst and Americans Katie Compton and Kaitlin Keough.

On Sunday, the under-23 women race. Dutch rider Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, who was seventh in the elite women’s World Cup and winner of the U-23 category, will be the favourite.

The weekend is capped off with the elite men’s race. Surely, this is another tussle between current champion Wout Van Aert and van der Poel. Van der Poel won six World Cup races and leads both the Superprestige and DVV Trofee series. The outsider for the title, is Toon Aerts, the Belgian who broke the Van Aert-van der Poel stranglehold by winning the World Cup, taking the title in dramatic fashion at Hoogerheide. Cameron Jette joins van den Ham in the Team Canada colours.

Dedicated Canadians can watch early in the morning on the UCI’s Youtube channel.

Team Canada, UCI Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark, February 2-3

Junior Men, Saturday, February 2, 5:00am EST
Ryan Maclean – Edmonton, Alberta
Conor Martin – Kelowna, BC
Paul Mysko – Barrie, Ontario

Under-23 Men, Saturday, February 2, 7:00am EST
Gunnar Holmgren (National Champion) – Orillia, Ontario
Tyler Orschel – Uxbridge, Ontario

Elite Women, Saturday, February 2, 9:00am EST
Maghalie Rochette (National Champion) – St-Jerome, Quebec

Under-23 Women, Sunday, February 3, 5:00am EST
Dana Gilligan – Oro Medonte, Ontario
Kelly Lawson – Barrie, Ontario
Sidney McGill – Edmonton, Alberta
Magdeleine Vallieres Mill – Sherbrooke, Quebec
Ruby West (National Champion) – Dundas, Ontario

Elite Men, Sunday, February 3, 9:00am EST
Cameron Jette – Toronto, Ontario
Michael van den Ham (National Champion) – Abbottsford, BC