Fem van Empel and Thibau Nys favourites for European Cyclo-cross Championships – Preview

Despite only being a few weeks into the cyclo-cross season, the first big goal is fast approaching with this weekend’s European Championships and the first chance to grab a distinct jersey for this year.

Held since 2003, the European Championships formerly only included under-23 races and an elite women’s race, but since the elite men’s race was added in 2015, the event has grown in importance, and is slowly becoming one of the focal points of the early season.

This year, the championships return to Pontchâteau in France, which is hosting the event for the third time, and the venue is also an intermittent stop on the World Cup circuit.

Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium) and Fem van Empel (Netherlands) head to France as the defending champions, and will both definitely be in the mix for victory this weekend. Van Empel will be the out-and-out favourite in the women’s race, whilst the men’s race looks more open, with Thibau Nys (Belgium), Lars van der Haar (Netherlands) and Eli Iserbyt (Belgium) all looking good right now.

With a challenging course waiting, and the threat of rain making it even harder, here’s what you need to know about the European Championships this weekend.

The course

© Cyclocross Pontchâteau

The 3km course in Pontchâteau

The course in Pontchâteau is a fast and quite flat course, with speed and cornering skills likely to win out over technical ability on tricky features, of which there are few.

The course is 3km in length, with 100m of elevation per gain, thanks to various very small rises rather than any significant climbing as we might see on courses such as the Koppenbergcross. It will be fast on the long straights, with fights into each corner.

The terrain is all fairly similar, with grass or hard packed dirt making up most of the course. On a dry day, this would make for a fast-running course, but the stormy weather in Europe is threatening to drop rain on the Championships, and this could make for a very different surface.

Rain means mud, and the seven races taking place across the weekend, plus hours of practice, could see the course get significantly churned up, which would pose a whole new challenge.

The races

At the European Championships, there are races for the juniors, under-23s and elites, which are all run separately. On the men’s side, under-23 riders who have made the decision to compete with the elites for the season must ride the elite race, but in the women’s race, where the fields are usually combined in the World Cup races, under-23 riders can choose, which means we often see riders we’re used to seeing in the elite go for the U23 title.

The individual races will all take place on Sunday this year as a result of the extreme weather forcing Saturday's cancellation.

What’s new for this year’s European Championships is the team relay. This is a format that has been part of mountain biking championships for a few seasons now, and is now making its way into cyclo-cross. As the name suggests, the race is a relay, with each nation starting six riders, three men and three women, from across the age categories. The riders then each do one lap of the course, tagging in their teammates as they finish, and the win goes to the team whose six riders finish in the fastest total time.

As a new format, the CX team relay is really being tested for the first time in Pontchâteau, and as a result many of the big names are skipping it to focus on the individual races, whilst the Netherlands haven’t entered a team at all. Belgium, Italy and Great Britain will all be present, though, as the CX world experiments with a new race.

The contenders

With a few weeks of racing under their belts, we’re starting to have a good idea of who is on form and who the main protagonists are heading into the European Championships. In the women’s elite race, there is really only one rider to beat: Fem van Empel (Netherlands).

The Dutchwoman has won seven races in a row so far this season, including most recently the Koppenbergcross, and it’s hard to bet against her defending her European title, especially with her closest contenders Shirin van Anrooij and Puck Pieterse not racing currently. Her closest rival in France will likely be Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Netherlands), who skipped Koppenbergcross to focus on this, and has looked closest to Van Empel so far this season, winning the Superprestige Ruddervoorde.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Fem van Empel is currently the European champion and world champion

Other names in the mix will be Denise Betsema (Netherlands), Inge van der Heijden (Netherlands), Aniek van Alphen (Netherlands), Anna Kay (Great Britain) and Sanne Cant (Belgium), but truthfully, it’s hard to look past Van Empel and Alvarado for the win, with the defending champion more than likely to retain her jersey.

The under-23 race looks prime for some good battles, though, with Zoe Bäckstedt (Great Britain) and Lauren Molengraaf (Belgium) the two big favourites.

In the men’s elite race, the title fight appears to be much more open. A lot of attention has been heaped on 20-year-old Thibau Nys (Belgium), who is in his first elite season and has already picked up three wins, but the more experienced elite riders have been hesitant to call Nys the favourite.

Defending champion Michael Vantourenhout (Belgium) will be looking to hold onto his jersey, and has been in the action but not quite on winning form so far this season. Lars van der Haar (Netherlands) has won twice this season and looked close behind Nys at Koppenbergcross, and looks capable of adding another European title to his palmarès. Eli Iserbyt (Belgium) is the final part of the current top four, and has been very consistent so far this season, with a possible peak for Euros planned.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Thibau Nys beat Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt at Koppenbergcross on Wednesday

Those four names will be the main favourites, but things can change quickly in ‘cross, especially if the weather turns, so other riders to watch will be Laurens Sweeck (Belgium), Pim Ronhaar (Netherlands), Cameron Mason (Great Britain) and Toon Vandebosch (Belgium).

In the men’s under-23 race, Jente Michels (Belgium) makes a return to the U23 field and looks strong, as do David Haverdings (Netherlands) and Victor van der Putte (Belgium), but with relatively few U23 races so far this season, it’s hard to pick out who will come out on top when the young riders go head to head without the elites.

Watch the best of the cyclo-cross season live on GCN+, including the World Cup, Superprestige, X2O & Exact series plus the UEC European Championships and the UCI World Championships, with replays available on demand. Territory restrictions apply, check availability here.