Cyclo-cross World Championships: 10 riders to watch in Tábor

Mathieu van der Poel and Fem van Empel are favourites, but who else will be in contention in the mud?

14:31, Thursday 1st February 2024

Matilda Price

Racing News Editor

Mathieu van der Poel, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Tibor del Grosso, and Fem Van Empel (L-R) are among the contenders for the Cyclo-cross World Championships

The road racing season may have begun, but the cyclo-cross season isn’t quite over yet, and the biggest event of all is still to come this weekend: the World Championships. Taking place in Tábor in the Czech Republic, the weekend will see six new world champions crowned across junior, U23 and elite races, as well as a new mixed team relay title.

Several months into the cyclo-cross season, we have a good idea of who is going well heading into these races, and perhaps even who will win. Defending champions Mathieu van der Poel and Fem van Empel have been nothing short of dominant in their respective fields, winning almost every race they start. As a result, they look fairly likely to retain their rainbow jerseys, but the start lists assembled around them are both full of talent and competition.

Read more: Preview: UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships Tábor

The two Dutch riders may be the favourites, but who could challenge them? Who will take the important U23 titles? Only the races will answer those questions, but here are 10 riders who should definitely be on your radar when racing gets underway this Saturday.

Mathieu van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel at the Benidorm round of the World Cup

Age: 29

Worlds pedigree: 5 elite titles and defending champion

Results this season: 12 wins from 13 races

Analysis:

Mathieu van der Poel is the out-and-out favourite to win the men’s race and take his sixth world title. The current world champion has been flawless this season, bar one mishap at the Benidorm World Cup, where he ceded to Wout van Aert after an unfortunate crash.

Van Aert and Tom Pidcock have been the only riders who have been able to get anywhere close to Van der Poel for most of the season, and with them skipping Worlds, it’s hard to imagine anyone else beating the Dutchman in Tábor.

To see any other rider pulling on the rainbow jersey this weekend would represent a great upset, so all eyes will be firmly on Mathieu van der Poel.

Fem van Empel

Fem van Empel has sported the rainbow jersey for all of her dominant wins this season

Age: 21

Worlds pedigree: Elite winner in 2023 and U23 champion in 2021

Results this season: 17 wins from 19 races

Analysis:

Similarly to Van der Poel, his compatriot Fem van Empel holds both defending champion and top favourite status in the women’s race, after a similarly dominant run of results this ‘cross season.

The 21-year-old hasn’t finished lower than fourth on any occasion this year, and usually, when she’s on the start line, she wins.

After a slight lull during the festive season where fatigue caught up with her - but she still recorded some wins - Van Empel looks to be back to her best level in the new year, and ready to chase her second elite title.

Thibau Nys

Thibau Nys is one of the sport's young prospects

Age: 21

Worlds pedigree: U23 champion in 2023, junior champion in 2020

Results this season: A mixed bag after a strong start, but started 2024 with some top-fives

Analysis:

Thibau Nys has been one of the most hyped-up prospects on the cyclo-cross circuit this season and has delivered mixed results. After winning the opening World Cup and the prestigious Koppenbergcross, Nys has been open about his struggles with fatigue around the busy calendar, and also balancing his road ambitions with his winter racing.

However, since the turn of the year, the 21-year-old has been building back into form, most recently collecting third and fourth in Benidorm and Hoogerheide, and it would be remiss to not put the outgoing U23 champion on the list as he takes on his first elite Worlds.

Nys may be a little up and down on the ‘cross bike, but when he’s on a good day he’s a rider to behold and will be hoping to finish the season strong before his attention turns to the road.

Puck Pieterse

Puck Pieterse is forming a budding rivalry with Fem van Empel

Age: 21

Worlds pedigree: Runner up in 2023, U23 champion in 2022

Results this season: 4 wins in 14 races, but only off the podium once

Analysis:

Outside of Van Empel and her run of wins, Puck Pieterse has been one of the most consistent CX riders this season, only finishing outside the top three once, which was when she took eighth in Hoogerheide last weekend. She capitalised on Van Empel’s weakness during the festive period to pick up four wins in a row and prove why she is usually listed as a favourite alongside her compatriot.

It’s no secret that Pieterse has road and mountain biking ambitions this season, and may be looking towards those already, but Worlds represents one last chance to do well in ‘cross. Though Van Empel is the favourite, Pieterse is a rider who has consistently shown she can take it to the world champion, and Tábor looks set for a battle between these two.

Lars van der Haar

Lars van der Haar is a rider who is rarely far from the front of the race

Age: 32

Worlds pedigree: Four-time medallist in the elite race but has never won

Results this season: 2 wins from 25 races, consistently in the top 8

Analysis:

With few results to write home about this season, Lars van der Haar may seem a surprise inclusion on this list, but there are two reasons why he is here. Firstly, it’s hard to judge riders on wins when Van der Poel has been winning so comprehensively, and secondly, Lars van der Haar is one of the most consistent riders in the ‘cross peloton, and is almost always there or thereabouts, despite being 12 years into his elite career.

To win in Tábor would certainly be a big ask, but you can expect to see the Dutchman up near the front of the race, and trying to take his competitors on from the start.

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado

Former world champion Alvarado has been getting back to her form of old

Age: 25

Worlds pedigree: Elite champion in 2020

Results this season: 6 wins from 23 races

Analysis:

It’s perhaps a surprising statistic that the rider who has the second-biggest win tally this season, after Van Empel, is not Puck Pieterse but is in fact Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. For a stretch before Christmas, Alvarado stepped into Van Empel’s place and won essentially every race the world champion didn’t start, and looked like a real force to be reckoned with.

Her win rate has slowed down since then, but her consistency has earnt her the lead - and most likely the wins - in the World Cup and Superprestige general classifications, so she should be considered a key contender in Tábor.

One of Alvarado’s strengths is that she never seems to fade, and often works her way back up to groups, so if Van Empel or Pieterse mistime their efforts, Alvarado will be a real threat.

Joris Nieuwenhuis

Nieuwenhuis has been excellent since dropping his road ambitions

Age: 27

Worlds pedigree: U23 champion in 2017, never medalled in the elite race

Results this season: 5 wins from 25 races

Analysis:

Recently-crowned Dutch national champion has been one of the revelatory riders of the season, going from CX returner to the top echelons of ‘cross riders in just two short seasons. He took his first big result of the season when he won the Superprestige in Merksplas, and then followed that up with his first World Cup win in Val di Sole, proving himself as not just one of the riders who is always there, but one who can actually turn that into a win, too.

The most promising sign from Nieuwenhuis, though, is how close he came to Mathieu van der Poel at the most recent World Cup in Hoogerheide. At the finish, he only trailed the winner by five seconds and thus propelled himself into competitor status for the World Championships. If he can replicate that kind of ride in Tábor, a first Worlds medal looks to be on the cards for Nieuwenhuis.

Lucinda Brand

Lucinda Brand has enjoyed dominant spells just like Fem van Empel

Age: 34

Worlds pedigree: Champion in 2021, medals in every edition since 2018

Results this season: Four wins from 19 races, never outside the top 4 (barring one DNF)

Analysis:

When it comes to results in World Championships, you won’t find a female rider more consistent than Lucinda Brand. The Dutchwoman hasn’t been off the podium in a Worlds since 2017 and is very much a rider who can pull it off on big occasions.

Though she hasn’t had a huge number of wins this season - she’s been coming back from injury - Brand has only been outside the top four on one occasion, and that’s when she DNFd after a crash in Zonhoven. Rolling around for a minor place isn’t Brand’s style, so expect her to be in the action on Saturday, and hopefully add another Worlds medal to her collection.

Tibor del Grosso (U23 men)

Tibor del Grosso is an up-and-coming talent to keep an eye on

Age: 20

Worlds pedigree: U23 runner-up in 2023

Results this season: 4 U23 World Cup wins, plus top-10s in elite races

Analysis:

Young star Tibor del Grosso has burst onto the scene this season, becoming a top rider in the U23 races and seriously impressing when he has started elite races, too. At Worlds, the 20-year-old is opting to ride the U23 race, and will likely be the big favourite alongside Jente Michels.

Despite his age, Del Grosso has been tipped as a hot talent for the future, mainly down to the aggressive way he’s raced even when up against elites - there’s no fear or politeness in front of the big names here. An U23 title would shoot his name to the top of riders to watch in general, but either way the young Dutchman is an exciting prospect for years to come.

Zoe Bäckstedt (U23 women)

Zoe Backstedt is the heavy favourite for the U23 women's race

Age: 19

Worlds pedigree: Junior champion in 2022, U23 runner-up in 2023

Results this season: 4 wins from 21 races

Analysis:

In the absence of a dedicated U23 race for women at the World Cups, 19-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt has been racing with the elites all season, but routinely finishing as the best U23 rider and challenging for the elite top five, too. On the one occasion she has raced as an U23, at the European Championships, Bäckstedt roundly beat her competition to take the continental title, and is the out-and-out favourite to do the same in Tábor.

Leonie Bentveld and Marie Schreiber will be her main competition, but the Brit has been the best of them for most of the season, and we’re not expecting that to change at Worlds. Yet another rainbow jersey looks set to be added to Bäckstedt’s already large collection.