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• Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:45 a.m
The 2024 Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Tábor are still three weekends away, but they’re already keeping people busy. This is because the eventual winner of the World Cup can secure an additional spot in this World Cup. With two heats to go, Eli Iserbyt is in the lead. His lead over the three Dutchmen who are breathing down his neck is not particularly big. If the newly crowned Belgian champion loses his place, Belgium will be allowed to take part in the world championship with one less driver. WielerFlits explains.
The rules for World Cup qualification are simple. The top 3 in the UCI rankings after the Zonhoven World Cup (January 7th) are allowed to send seven riders. The outgoing world champions and continental champions will be assigned an individual spot regardless of their nationality. In this case it is Mathieu van der Poel and Michael Vanthourenhout respectively. The final winner of the World Cup also qualifies individually. This means that these three special cases create space for other drivers in the seven seats already available.
Among the elite men, Eli Iserbyt is currently at the top. After twelve World Cup races he has a lead of 25 points over his nearest competitor Joris Nieuwenhuis, 35 points over Pim Ronhaar and 40 points over Lars van der Haar. The three Dutch riders of the Baloise Trek Lions are mathematically the only riders who can free Iserbyt from the white and red top jersey. A win at a World Championship brings 40 points towards the overall standings. The number two gets 30 points and the number three gets 25. The fourth gets 22 points and after that every worse result gets one point less.
Benidorm and Hoogerheide
Since there are still two rounds left (Sunday in Benidorm and next week in Hoogerheide), a maximum of 80 points can still be achieved. Normally, the Belgian champions’ lead is enough to win the World Cup. The Belgian gave up in Hulst (more on that later), which caused tension again. By the way, thanks also to the shape of Nieuwenhuis. In the last five races (from Namur on December 16th) the newly crowned Dutch champion was four times better than the Belgian, with the last two – including Hulst – being by far the best.
Nieuwenhuis therefore seems to be Iserbyt’s biggest challenger. For the Dutchman it is important to be on the podium twice because that is when you can make the biggest impact. The only disadvantage: In addition to world champion MVDP, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock are also there in Benidorm. This makes the job for Nieuwenhuis much more difficult. In addition, it’s just about stealing a place from the Belgians, because the bottom line is that national coach Gerben de Knegt has nothing to gain. If his colleague Sven Vanthourenhout wants an additional flanker, Iserbyt has to get to work.
Question mark at Iserbyt
But the Belgian is struggling with his health. He didn’t spend New Year’s Day in Baal (GP Sven Nys). This after he had an unusually high heart rate a few days earlier following the World Championships in Hulst and was also briefly hospitalized due to dehydration caused by gastroenteritis. Renowned cardiologist Pedro Brugada gave Iserbyt the green light for another race in Zonhoven and finally won the Belgian tricolor in Meulebeke last Sunday. He then said that his body was saying “stop” and, “If I can stop tomorrow, I wouldn’t mind.”
Of course, health comes first. However, given the situation, it is not at all surprising that Belgium will lose another starting place to the Netherlands. It hasn’t happened for years that the Orange Jerseys have outnumbered the Belgians at the Elite Men’s World Cup, but now, in a season where the Netherlands are not having the best year overall. So it looks like they might start with eight or nine, but leave for Tábor with only six. That would be a hard blow for the Belgians because they want to fill all the starting positions.
Dutch women with nine instead of ten
For women this number is nine. The Netherlands are first in the UCI rankings, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado is normally expected to win the World Cup and Fem van Empel is the outgoing world champion. She is also European champion, so an additional personal ticket is no longer necessary. Otherwise the Netherlands would have been allowed to start with ten women. Belgium has seven.
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