World of Cycling: Is cyclo-cross racing the key to success on the road?

This week on the World of Cycling, Dan Lloyd talks to multiple British champion Ian Field about all things cyclo-cross.

Ian and Dan discuss how the sport has moved away from riders like Zdeněk Štybar and Lars Boom, who went from cyclo-cross to the road peloton, to Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, who are the champions in both disciplines at the same time.

Ian explains why, in the past, riders used to stick largely to the muddy fields of Belgium and Holland, versus how the current peloton has seen more cyclo-cross riders racing on the road in the spring and summer.

Between Dan, Ian – as well as a couple cameos from the likes Ineos Grenadiers sports director Roger Hammond, who was a junior world champion and a professional on the road, Puck Pieterse, Mitch Docker and Jens Dekker – the cast of characters go beyond just the basics of 'cross and really dig into the ruts, rites and rituals that the cyclo-cross niche runs on.

While cylco-cross has been humming in the United States for a couple of weeks with the USCX, the full cyclo-cross circus returns with gusto in mid-October with the first World Cup in Wisconsin, before the racing returns to Europe for the rest of the winter season.

You can catch much of the cyclo-cross season, from September through February, on GCN+.