Ones to watch on Canyon at the 2024/25 UCI Cyclocross World Cup

CX World Cup season gets into gear on Sunday 24th November with 12-rounds across Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy, France and the Netherlands.

Taking in six countries and a mixed variety of coures, the World Cup  will stretch the best racers in the world to their physical and technical limits and create pulse-raising excitement before the series concludes in January 2025.

Men’s world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has yet to announce his ‘cross intentions for the season but he will no doubt dabble in a mix of smaller events and World Cup outings before focusing on the defence of his rainbow jersey in Liévin, France at the end of January and beginning of February. 

Meanwhile, last year’s women’s World Cup winner, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) has already tasted victory this season with a handful of wins before the defence of her 2024 title starts in earnest.

The Dutch rider will no doubt race alongside her trade teammate Puck Pieterse once the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage winner starts her ‘cross campaign. Pieterse, the runner-up in last year’s World Cup standings, is a formidable all-rounder, combining her road objectives with her ambitions in mountain biking and cyclocross.

The UCI CycloCross World Cup starts on November 24 with the opening round in Antwerpen, Belgium, where Fem van Empel and Mathieu van der Poel stole the show last year with winning performances. 

The series then heads to Dublin, Ireland on December 1 before taking on a brand-new event course in Sardinia, Italy on December 8, which replaces the former World Cup round in Val di Sole. 

Namur in Belgium (December 15), and Hulst in the Netherlands (December 21) then play host to the next two rounds. By that point we’ll have a clear indication of which riders are in contention to be crowned the respective World Cup winners.

Just a day after the round in Hulst the World Cup circut arrives in Zonhoven in Belgium for one of the most iconic and demanding courses on the programme. Last year Pieterse and van der Poel both came out on top in thrilling races, with van der Poel taking his tenth straight ‘cross win of the season. Pieterse, meanwhile, came through an exhilarating women’s race to win alone, while Zoe Backstedt (Canyon-SRAM) took a highly creditable third in the race, with both riders coming home aboard their Canyon Inflite bikes.

Following Zonhoven, there’s little respite for the competition, with the sixth round of the World Cup taking place in Gavere, Belgium on December 26, followed by round seven in Besançon, France on December 29, where once again Pieterse and van der Poel put their rivals to the sword last seasons in both outings. 

The start of 2025 will see the World Cup swing back into action with weekly rounds throughout January. 

Dendermonde is the first event on January 5 and was the scene of del Carmen Alvarado’s first World Cup win last year, with Zoe Backstedt once more finishing on the podium thanks to a sterling ride that netted the Canyon-SRAM rider third place.

The series then heads to Benidorm, Spain before the penultimate round in Maasmechelen, Belgium, and the final outing in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands on January 26, just days before the UCI World Championships. 

The UCI Cyclocross World Cup went through a re-vamp over the off-season and is now focussed on 12 rounds spread across six countries. Within each round there are five races: Elite Men, Elite Women, Under 23 Men, Junior Men, and Junior Women. 

For the elite men’s and women’s races, points are allocated depending on placings at the end of each race. Riders are awarded 40 points for a win, 30 for second, and 25 for third, with points awarded to every rider inside the top 25 of each race. 

The key to overall sucess in the overal standings comes down to consistency. Del Carmen Alvarado won three rounds last year compared to Fem van Empel’s five but the Fenix rider’s dependability was key to her end-of-year success. She scored points in every round bar one. 

Van der Poel skipped the first eight rounds of last year’s World Cup, yet still managed to finish a highly credible sixth in the World Cup after wining five of the final six rounds, as he looked to mix his campaign between a number of race series.

With the cyclocross season already underway riders have already started picking up results in races such as the Superprestige series, which started in late October and runs through until the start of February. 

However, many of the star-studded names have yet to make their season debuts. Del Carmen Alvarado has already picked up several wins this season and finished second at the recent UEC Cyclocross European Championships.

Pieterse is still building up towards her cyclocross season debut after her most expansive and successful season on the road to date. Fenix teammate, and former European champion Yara Kastelijn, meanwhile, has started her campaign, with a number of impressive placings.

We're yet to see Zoe Backstedt in action, and that’s the same for Cat Ferguson who won two rounds of the junior World Cup last year and finished second overall. The British rider won two rainbow jerseys at the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich this autumn and will no doubt be targeting key cyclocross events throughout the coming months.  

On the men’s side, van der Poel has yet to declare his schedule although fans are expecting a reduced 'cross season as he balances his 2025 racing schedule. The Dutch rider’s record last season was almost faultles, with 13 wins from 14 races. He won five rounds of the World Cup before closing out his campaign with a sixth elite rainbow jersey. His victory in the UCI Cyclocross world championships earlier this year created one of the defining moments of the calendar, as the Dutch rider crossed the line alone and celebrated with his Canyon Inflite.

With the rider now just one win away from Belgian Erik De Vlaeminck’s record of seven world championship wins, it’s highly likely that he will build his season towards peaking at the Worlds in Liévin, France.

All Canyon cyclocross riders will be using Canyon's Inflite CFR. With its iconic drop top tube design, and it's enviable palmares, it's one of the most recognisable bikes on the circuit. The Inflite CFR comes in a Sparkle Stealth or an Alpecin-Deceuninck replica colourway.

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