Cyclo-cross stars chase the rainbow in the USA

Rainbow jerseys and gold medals are up for grabs across six races this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA), at the 2022 Walmart UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.

With the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup barely over, after the final round in Hoogerheide (Netherlands) on Sunday, many of its biggest racers have already made their way across the Atlantic Ocean as they get ready for a full weekend of action in Fayetteville’s Centennial Park at the 2022 Walmart UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.

The purpose-built multi-discipline cycling facility built at Millsap Mountain will host two days of competition following the opening ceremony on Thursday 27 January and the team relay test event on Friday. The first rainbow jerseys will be awarded in the Women Junior race, on Saturday morning, followed by the Men Under 23 and Women Elite events the same day. Men Junior, Women Under 23 and Men Elite will have their shot at glory on Sunday.

Stars of the sport and rising talents alike will battle on a 3,100m course. "The venue is amazing," USA Cycling CEO Brendan Quirk celebrates. "There are incredible features like the near-40 step run-up, steep descents, difficult climbs, and dramatic bermed turns that will test the endurance and bike-handling skills of every rider involved. The park is also surrounded by many miles of singletrack, and the ambition of the community is for someday soon to host a Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event to show off this part of the park. Fayetteville is in the middle of the Oz Trails network of mountain bike trails. It's a ‘bucket list’ destination for mountain biking and gravel riding, and we're excited to show it off to all of the first-time visitors."

Last October, Fayetteville hosted thrilling UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup races in the mud, with Lucinda Brand and Quinten Hermans taking victory. The Dutchwoman will look for further success in the USA, defending the rainbow jersey she earned last year in Ostend (Belgium), but the Belgian man has had to forfeit due to a positive Covid-19 test.

Men Elite: Iserbyt the man to beat?

As Mathieu Van der Poel recovers from injuries and Wout van Aert gets ready for the road season, many challengers see an opportunity to succeed Zdenek Stybar, the last rider to win the Men Elite race at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships before the Dutch and Belgian icons took over, claiming seven men’s titles between the two nations since 2015. Among them, Eli Iserbyt has been the most impressive this season, taking the overall victory in the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in dominant fashion. The Belgian, who has already claimed two rainbow jerseys as an Under 23, feels ready to take over at the highest level: “We saw who are the best riders this weekend,” he stated after riding to victory in Hoogerheide.

Without Hermans, the Belgian selection remains impressive, with the likes of Michael Vanthourenhout, 2nd in the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, and Toon Aerts, who followed him closely in the standings and took bronze in the last three editions of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.

Their main rivals could be the European Champion Lars van der Haar (Netherlands), who feels confident about his options on the Fayetteville circuit, and Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock, UCI Under 23 Cyclo-cross World Champion in 2017 and 2019, silver medallist in 2020’s Elite event and winner of two UCI World Cup rounds this season.

Women Elite: Dutch party in the USA?

Following the three-year dominance established by Sanne Cant between 2017 and 2019, Oranje riders have returned to their dominant habits, claiming all six medals in the Women Elite races of Dübendorf 2020 and Ostend 2021. They also took the first seven spots in this season’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup rankings, and their firepower makes the Oranje squad the team to beat in Fayetteville.

The reigning UCI World Champion and winner of the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup Lucinda Brand is a natural favorite for a second victory in a row. But the last race in Hoogerheide showed how open the battle for victory can be among stellar riders getting as close as possible to their best condition.

“Marianne Vos is very experienced and she showed how strong she is,” reported Lucinda Brand after her compatriot powered to her fourth UCI World Cup win of the season last Sunday. The Dutch icon will be chasing an eighth UCI Women Elite Cyclo-cross World Champion title. The end of the season also saw Kata Blanka Vas returning to interesting form. The young Hungarian was 3rd n Flamanville (France) and 5th in Hoogerheide after taking a competitive break halfway through the season to balance her ambitions on multiple terrains.

Youth categories: revenge for Junior Woman Zoe Backstedt?

The Netherlands also brought to the front four winners in the different youth categories of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup: Puck Pieterse (Women Under 23), Mees Hendrikx (Men Under 23), Leonie Bentveld (Women Junior) and David Haverdings (Men Junior).

The latter has been impressively consistent this season, taking 16 victories in 19 races, including all rounds of the UCI World Cup. On the other end, it was a late push that got Bentveld the final victory ahead of Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt, winner of the first three UCI Women Junior World Cup events of the season, before she withdrew from the Flamanville round, having returned a positive Covid-19 test.

Already Junior UCI World Champion on the road, Backstedt is determined to take the rainbow stripes in cyclo-cross as well: “I had everything nailed for the Worlds last year in Belgium, I was in perfect condition and in my head I could see the podium. And then it was cancelled, I was devastated. All of my frustration has been put into this year’s Worlds.”

Backstedt’s talent has already allowed her to impress among her elders, and the same goes for Mees Hendrikx (6th in the Elite race in Hoogerheide) and Puck Pieterse (six UCI World Cup Elite podiums this season), who also saw her compatriot Fem van Empel take two victories at the highest level, in Val di Sole (Italy) and Flamanville.

In the Men Under 23 category, Pim Ronhaar (Netherlands), Cameron Mason (Great Britain) and Emiel Verstrynge (Belgium) were the season’s other winners alongside Hendrikx. It's time for them to square up for a big battle in the USA!