Cyclocross 2023-2024 - A comprehensive guide

The cyclocross season ramps up in October as the road season winds down, bringing out the off-road specialists before they're joined later in the season by multi-discipline stars like Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel or World Champion Tom Pidcock.

Racing has already started in the United States and the first World Cup round arrives in Waterloo, Wisconsin on October 15.

UCI Cyclocross World Cup rounds run on 11 Sundays of the season between Waterloo and the World Championships plus three days during Christmas week, or 'Kerstperiode'. There are one-week breaks after the opening round, on November 4-5 during the Continental Championships and then in January for the majority of the national championships.  

Other major race series include the Superprestige and X2O Trofee and other national race series such as the US Cyclocross Series, the British National Trophy Series, Coupe de France and the Toi Toi Cup in the Czech Republic.

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Cyclocross Riders to Watch

Last year's women's races were the most hotly-contested, exciting contests of the season with Fem Van Empel winning seven of the World Cups, Puck Pieterse four and Shirin Van Anrooij the other three. They combined to take the top three spots, respectively, in the World Cup overall standings.

In the points-based Superprestige, it was former World Champion Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado who came out on top over Inge van der Heijden and Denise Betsema. Van Empel won the time-based X2O Trofee over Lucinda Brand, who spent much of the year recovering from a broken hand, with Alvarado third.

Across the pond, Caroline Mani topped Raylyn Nuss in the women's USCX series in the absence of US National Champion Clara Honsinger.

All of these riders will be ones to watch again this season, although Van Anrooij has said she will limit her off-road pursuits to focus on the Spring Classics, and Betsema suffered a training crash and delayed her season in early October.

However, Van Anrooij will be racing the opening World Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin thanks to her bike sponsor Trek. She'll be joined there by her rivals Van Empel and Pieterse.

The Dutch contingent will be without former World Champion Lucinda Brand, out with a collarbone injury, and Marianne Vos, who had iliac artery surgery.

The men's field has a very different dynamic, with riders like Eli Iserbyt, Laurens Sweeck and Michael Vanthourenhout dominating in the early season until Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert come out to play.

Sweeck did enough to win the UCI World Cup overall last year, but riders have complained about how long the World Cup is compared with earlier seasons and struggle with the logistics of racing across seven different countries and two continents.

Consistency is key to any of the top series, and Lars van der Haar didn't win a single Superprestige round but won the overall series ahead of Iserbyt by being in the top three for all but two races and in the top five for every race.

Iserbyt won the X2O Trofee in 2023 and will be the favourite again this season.

The men's US champion Curtis White topped Eric Brunner and Belgian Vincent Baestaens to win the USCX last year. This season, the USA's reigning U23 national champion Andrew Strohmeyer has stamped his name into the list of riders to watch with his speed and skill and a win in the second day of racing in the Charm City CX.

Van der Haar will be among the starters in Wisconsin, along with Joris Nieuwenhuis, Ryan Kamp and Pim Ronhaar.

How to watch the 2023-24 cyclocross season live streaming

GCN+, Flobikes and a range of local broadcasters will show cyclocross this winter.

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GCN+ will provide live streaming of the Superpresite, X2O Trofee and Exact Cross cyclocross series from Belgium. A year-long subscription will set you back £39.99 while a month's subscription costs £6.99. Coverage will also be available on Discovery Plus/Eurosport at the same price points.

Equivalent figures for subscriptions are: $64.99 and $15.99 (USA), $59.99 and $11.99 (Canada), and $64.99 and $15.99 (Australia).

The main series of the season, the UCI World Cup, will be broadcast live and in full on the UCI's website and Youtube channel. Eurosport will host races in certain territories (excluding the UK and Ireland), while Flobikes has exclusive rights to the World Cup and World Championships in the USA and Canada, with a subscription costing $150/year.

Local broadcasters, including VRT/Sporza and Proximus (Belgium), Rai (Italy), NOS (Netherlands), and L'Equipe TV (France) will also broadcast the race.

Be warned, though, geo-restrictions may apply if you're outside your home country or on holiday during the race. You can get around that, however, by accessing the streams via a VPN. 

ExpressVPN offers the ability to simulate being back in your home country, allowing you to watch the race live on various devices – including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.

Schedules

2023-2024 Pro Cyclocross Teams

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
  • Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado
  • Quinten Hermans
  • Jente Michels
  • Mathieu van der Poel
  • Niels Vandeputte
  • Gianni Vermeersch
• AS Bike Racing
  • Nathan Bommenel
  • Hélene Clauzel
  • Perrine Clauzel
  • Romain Debord
  • Lauriane Duraffourg
  • Corentin Lequet
  • David Menut
• Baloise Trek Lions
  • Lucinda Brand
  • David Haverdings
  • Ward Huybs
  • Fleur Moors
  • Joris Nieuwenhuis
  • Thibau Nys
  • Pim Ronhaar
  • Seppe Van Den Boer
  • Lars van der Haar
  • Shirin Van Anrooij
• Circus-Reuz-Technord
  • Thijs Aerts
  • Arne Baers
  • Julie Brouwers
  • Kevin Kuhn
  • Gerben Kuijpers
  • Lauren Molengraaf
  • Jelle Vermoote
• Crelan-Corendon
  • Manon Makker
  • Sanne Cant
  • Aaron Dockx
  • Mees Hendrikx
  • Witse Meeussen
  • Marion Norbert Riberolle
  • Laurens Sweeck
  • Inge van der Heijden
  • Xaydee Van Sinaey
  • Toon Vandebosch
  • Emiel Verstrynge
  • Joran Wyseure
• Cyclocross Reds (formerly 777)
  • Ryan Cortjens
  • Anna Kay
  • Guus van den Eijnden
  • Aniek van Alphen
  • Annemiek Worst
• De Ceuster-Bonache
  • Lotte Baele
  • Audrey De Keersmaeker
  • Alicia Franck
  • Lies'l Schevenels
  • Laura Verdonschot
  • Suzanne Verhoeven
• Deschacht-Hens-Maes
  • Anton Ferdinande
  • Robbe Marchand
  • Iris Offerein
  • Daan Soete
  • Ferre Urkens
  • Victor Van de Putte
  • Corné van Kessel
• Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal
  • Leonie Bentveld
  • Denise Betsema
  • Yordi Corsus
  • Kay De Bruyckere
  • Kenay De Moyer
  • Eli Iserbyt
  • Ryan Kamp
  • Yorben Lauryssen
  • Wies Nuyens
  • Victork Vandenberghe
  • Lukas Vanderlinden
  • Michael Vanthourenhout
• Trek Factory Racing CX
  • Madigan Munroe
  • Jolanda Neff
  • Evie Richards
• CXD Trek Bikes
  • Keira Bond
  • Ella Brenneman
  • Owen Brenneman
  • Nathan Cusack
  • Dillon McNeill
  • Daxon Mock
  • Katherine Sarkisov
  • Andrew Strohmeyer

What is cyclocross

What kind of bike is best for cyclocross?

The UCI rules limit bikes for cyclocross to drop-bars, road-style frames and tyres of a maximum of 33mm so over the years, specialized cyclocross frames emerged. In the years before the advent of disc brakes, the best cyclocross bikes had cantilever brakes and wide clearances to help keep mud from clogging up the spaces between tyre and frame.

These days riders almost exclusively use disc brakes and most employ 1X drivetrain setups due to the weight savings.

What kind of tyres are best for cyclocross?

The best cyclocross tyre depends on the conditions - be it dry and dusty or wet and muddy, there's a tread for every kind of race. You'll see the video cameras pan across the front row starters, showing close of up each rider's tread choice. Between the tread and the tyre pressure, the choices can make or break a rider's race.

Although Dugast Tubular tyres have been the choice of champions for years, tubeless tyres are making inroads. Clinchers are rarely used because of they can't hold under the low pressures riders use. There is a fair bit of overlap between the best cyclocross tyres and best gravel tyres.