World Championship Watch Guide
The biggest event in the sport of cyclocross - the UCI World Championships - are upon us. This weekend the finest athletes in the world of cyclocross (with two notable exceptions) will be racing for the rainbow stripes in the US city of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
What does the course look like?
The course looks set to be a grassy affair with plenty of power sections and not too many technical features.
The most decisive features look to be a long power climb of 300-400m midway through the lap, as well as an extended runup containing 39 stairs.
You can check out a preview of the course here, courtesy of US team member Curtis White:
While the race conditions for the Fayetteville World Cup earlier in the season were heavy and muddy, based on early forecasts for this weekend it looks likely that the course will be the faster, drier course seen in White’s preview.
When are the races on?
Want to know when the races are on, but can’t be bothered figuring how how to convert the time zones? No need to worry - we’ve done that for you!
An important note: Day 1’s races are happening on Saturday in the US (meaning Sunday morning Down Under), and Day 2’s races are on Sunday (Monday morning Down Under).
In most years the CX World Championships are held in Europe, meaning that it’s comparatively easier for those Down Under to watch the junior and U23 races in the early evening than the Elite events that typically start around midnight. This year the timezones have worked out a little differently, meaning that it’ll be easier to watch the Elite races in the morning, with bleary eyes in store for anyone trying to catch the junior races.
How to watch
Australia
Those watching in Australia will need to watch on Fox Sports - either via via the Kayo streaming service or pay TV on Fox Sports 505 (most likely - final schedules for pay TV have yet to be confirmed, and may only include the Elite races).
Kayo are offering a 14-day free trial for new customers, which you can sign up for here. You’ll need to enter credit card details in order to set up your subscription and start watching, so make sure you go back in and cancel the service next week if you don’t plan on using it for anything else.
Due to international broadcast arrangements, the official UCI stream on YouTube and streaming via GCN+ will be geo-blocked for those in Australia. GCN+ certainly will be geo-blocked (as they have been all year), but throughout this season several UCI livestreams of CX World Cups have been available to watch from Australia for the first day or two. It’s hard to know if this will happen again (especially for the sport’s biggest weekend), but we’d recommend erring on the side of caution and signing up for a Kayo account to guarantee you can watch the action.
New Zealand
Throughout this cyclocross season, UCI CX World Cups have been streamed on Sky Sport 9, and from all the evidence we can see this will be the same for the CX World Championships. This means Kiwis will need to watch Sky Sport 9 to catch the action from the World Championships.
They’re offering a 7-day free trial for new customers based in New Zealand, which you can sign up for here. You’ll need to enter credit card details in order to set up your subscription and start watching, so make sure you go back in and cancel the service next week if you don’t plan on using it for anything else.
Due to international broadcast arrangements, the official UCI stream on YouTube and streaming via GCN+ will be geo-blocked for those in New Zealand. GCN+ certainly will be geo-blocked (as they have been all year), but throughout this season several UCI livestreams of CX World Cups have been available to watch for the first day or two. It’s hard to know if this will happen again (especially for the sport’s biggest weekend), but we’d recommend erring on the side of caution and signing up for a Sky Sports account to guarantee you can watch the action.
Who are the riders to watch?
Watch this space - we’ll cover all that and more in a preview article coming to CX Down Under later this week!