UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships: preparation on Spain’s Costa Blanca

The greatest stars of cyclo-cross showed the best versions of themselves in Spain last weekend, as they gear up for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Czechia.

Spain’s Costa Blanca has become a traditional destination for road cyclists at this time of year as they prepare for their season. This year, cyclo-cross specialists have joined them, with the inception of a round of the discipline’s UCI World Cup in Benidorm. Racing at the venue on January 21 was thrilling, and the perfect opportunity for riders to fine tune their condition ahead of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tábor, Czechia, on February 2-4.

“I love being here, it’s a good combination with the UCI World Cup and the team’s training camp,” says Fem van Empel (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), the reigning UCI World Champion in the Women Elite category and winner in Benidorm after yet another super tight battle with her intimate rival Puck Pieterse.

“I’ve spent a week and a half in Spain, until Benidorm, and now I head back home,” the young Dutch star adds. “I feel really good so I hope I still have this shape 15 days from now, with a few more races to stimulate the legs.”

Pieterse’s schedule is slightly different but also aims to make the most of the calendar ahead of the UCI Worlds: “We stay in Spain with the team until Friday. Then I race Hoogerheide [the 14th and final round of the 2023-2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup] and the week after that is go time.”

“We’ll see in Tábor”

The area is so crowded with cyclists – amateurs and stars alike – that fans on their bikes in Benidorm had the pleasure of meeting with Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), riding to the circuit from his home in the area of Calpe. “It’s about a 40-kilometre ride,” explains the five-time Men Elite UCI Cyclo-cross World Champion, who spent most of his week doing “longer efforts” to build up his condition.

A crash in the penultimate lap put an end to his extraordinary winning streak (13 consecutive wins in cyclo-cross, a run that began last year in Benidorm) but Van der Poel remains on track for another rainbow conquest. “My shoulder is a bit sore but it’s ok,” he acknowledged at the finish.

“Finishing 5th after this crash is really strong,” observes Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), who all but sealed the overall victory in the Men Elite category of the 2023-2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup with his 4th place in Benidorm. “I gained some good points today but I still have one race to go,” says the newly-crowned Belgian Champion, whose shape is “almost at the best level already”.

“I’ve been here from Tuesday, I stay until Thursday,” Iserbyt explains. “The rainbow is the highest, the most beautiful jersey, but I think Mathieu will be a very strong contender. It will be hard but you never know so you have to be ready and we’ll see in Tábor.”

The leading Men Under 23 riders in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup were all present in Benidorm, with Belgian Emiel Verstrynge taking victory. He lies second in the overall standings behind the Netherlands’ Tibor Del Grosso (4th in Spain).

“I really hope to be ready”

Meanwhile, French youngsters Célia Gery (Women Junior) and Aubin Sparfel (Men Junior) also dream of the rainbow jersey after both winning the UEC European Championships earlier this season and claiming the overall lead in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup with their victories in Benidorm.

Distinctive jerseys “inspire” Sparfel, who looks at the rainbow as the “highest point of the season. It might be my only shot at such an iconic victory, so I really want to give it my best. The shape is on the way up and I want to keep it going until the UCI Worlds”.

For Gery, it was “really nice to win two weeks ahead of the UCI Worlds. I’m heading there with big ambitions but we’ll see about the condition. I really hope to be ready on the day with all the training we do.” The French national team stays in Spain until Friday, before heading to Hoogerheide for the last round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup.

“It’s the most important period of the season,” confirms Lauren Molengraaf (Charles Liégeois Roastery CX), whose dreams of the rainbow jersey in the Women Junior class last year were shattered by mechanicals. “Hopefully one day I can turn the tables!”