World Championship Watch Guide 2024
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 Czech city of Tábor, arguably the most famous course in cyclocross located outside Belgium or the Netherlands.
What does the course look like?
The course at Tábor has been a regular stop on the UCI World Cup circuit since 2004, and previously hosted the world championships in 2001, 2010 and 2015.
The course features numerous off-camber corners, mud, long grassy straights and a pair of flyovers at either end of the lap.
The barriers look to be especially tricky here - with a slow uphill run-in and soft-looking ground underneath, there won’t be much margin for error for those choosing to bunnyhop the planks.
Based on the recon lap of Dutch rider Tibor del Grosso, the rest of the course looks similar to previous years, with midweek rain ensuring plenty of slick mud for the riders.
The course has been known to be very slippery in the past - although the 2018 World Cup race was held early in the season, an icy off-camber section resulted in a major logjam early in the women’s race!
History
The 2001 world championships weekend in Tábor saw an extremely muddy Elite Men’s race come to a sprint finish, with Belgian Erwin Vervecken just heading out local rider Petr Dlask.
In the women’s race, Germany’s Hanna Kupfernagel took the rainbow jersey ahead of the Dutch pairing of Corine Dorland and Daphny van den Brand. Unfortunately because it was 2001 and we hadn’t fully evolved yet as a species, only the men’s race was televised.
In 2010, Czech hero Zdenek Stybar prevailed in front of a rabid hometown crowd, with the Belgian pair of Klaas Vantournout and Sven Nys rounding out the podium on a very snowy Tábor circuit, ahead of another home rider in Martin Bina.
In the women’s race, a much older Kupfernagel and Van den Brand took second and third place respectively behind a dominant Marianne Vos, who won the third of her eight CX world championships by 45 seconds.
In 2015, a young Mathieu van der Poel secured his first Elite Men’s world title ahead of Wout van Aert and Lars van der Haar, while in the women’s race a memorable duel took place between reigning road world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Belgian legend Sanne Cant. After a nailbiting last lap that involved seven lead changes, the Frenchwoman eventually prevailed in a sprint finish.
After the race, Cant sparked controversy by hitting out at part-time cyclocross riders coming in and winning races with minimal preparation - a clear reference to Ferrand-Prevot. Untroubled by Cant’s comments, Ferrand-Prevot would later that year become the first rider to hold the rainbow jersey in road, cyclocross and mountain biking simultaneously.
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 Europe (meaning a Sunday morning finish for some of those Down Under), and Day 2’s races are on Sunday (Monday morning for some of those Down Under).
How to watch
Australia & New Zealand
With the sad demise of GCN+ and its excellent streaming app, watching online cycling has gotten a lot harder for most folks.
The cyclocross world championships seem to be the exception to that rule for folks Down Under. If you wanted to watch the world championships last year you needed a subscription to a paid service (Kayo Sports in Australia, Sky Sports Plus in New Zealand), whereas this year you’ll be able to watch all the action via live stream on the UCI’s YouTube channel - check out the live streams below!