Sunday, Feb. 5, the traditional final and the most prominent within cross on the program. The fattest fish that can make or break the cross season. Or can be the icing on the cake of an outstanding campaign, if you may speak for Wout van Aert. Can the Jumbo-Visma all-rounder, who is in blistering top form, dethrone his eternal rival Mathieu van der Poel in his own Hoogerheide? Or will Matje take his fifth rainbow jersey in the cross? Cycling-Classics.com is presenting the Preview World Championship Cyclo-Cross 2023!

When is the 2023 CycloCross World Championship?

As mentioned, the 2023 World Championships Cyclocross will be finished in Hoogerheide and will take place on February 3, 4 and 5, 2023 on the course we know as GP Adrie van der Poel in Hoogerheide in North Brabant, the Netherlands. A home race indeed for Matje!

Preview World Championship Cyclo-Cross 2023

The Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia. Or, on the other side of the globe, in western Argentina, the Vuelta a San Juan. Or a little closer to home, the many races in Mallorca. Where five Trofeos are scheduled between January 25 and 29. The 2023 cycling season has really begun. And the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2023 and all those other spring classics and cycling races are already ahead. The cycling teams with their classic leaders presented their plans for the coming spring and season one by one last week.

But for the two top favorites for the upcoming Monuments, spring is still far away. For Mathieu van der Poel and for Wout van Aert, only one thing counts in the coming days: becoming cyclo-cross world champion! All focus is on Hoogerheide, a home race for the four-time and reigning world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. Are we going to have a new, wonderful chapter in the eternal Duel between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel?

History cyclocross World Championships

Before we look in detail ahead to the favorites Cyclo-cross World Championship 2023, first a bit of history and an overview of the course of the Cyclo-cross World Championship 2023. We start with the history.

The world cyclocross championship for elite men has been organized since 1950. It was then Frenchman Jean Robic who became the first cyclist ever to declare himself World Cup winner. He completed the French party in Charenton-le-Pont.

For the first few years it was mostly a French party, with. Renato Longo (1959) was the first Italian world champion, Rolf Wolfshohl (1960) the first German, Eric De Vlaeminck (1966) the first Belgian and Hennie Stamsnijder (1981) the first Dutchman.

With seven world titles, Mister Paris Roubaix Roger De Vlaeminck can still call himself a record holder. Between 1966 and 1973, the four-time winner of The Hell of the North managed to crown himself world champion in cyclocross. Although Mathieu van der Poel (four victories, achieved in 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021) and Wout van Aert (three victories, achieved in 2016, 2017 and 2018) are rattling at the gate – De Vlaeminck will be autocrat at least until the year 2024.

Frenchman André Dufraisse (between 1954 and 1958), Italian Renato Longo (between 1959 and 1967) and Swiss Albert Zweifel (between 1976 and 1986) each managed to win the World Cup five times. Roland Liboton – and thus Mathieu van der Poel – were the best four times.

Last year, the cyclocross World Cup was held in Fayeteville, USA, and we got a winner other than Van der Poel or Van Aert for the first time in seven years. In their absence, it was the third mutineer of The Big Three who grabbed his first reigning prize in cyclocross: Briton Tom Pidcock managed to beat his rivals.

Route World Championship Cyclo-Cross 2023

We know the 2023 World Cyclo-cross Championship course as Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel. Initially, the cross was established in 2000 for the farewell of Adrie van der Poel. After this, the cross has continued and is now known as the biggest and most important cross on Dutch soil.

After 2009 and 2014, the Brabantse Wal will be the setting for the 2023 cyclocross World Cup for the third time. The terrain is known as a technical course. That means lots of climbs and, when it rains, lots of mud.

So Papa van der Poel himself has been one of the proud builders. “We’ve been doing this for years with a regular group of enthusiastic people. We have some new things in the course for the World Championships, so that’s really fun,” the father of one of the biggest favorites for the title in the elite men’s race informed our colleagues from Omroep Brabant, who stopped by the course builders.

‘It will definitely be tough, but of course it shouldn’t become a running race,’ Adrie van der Poel looks ahead. Certain passages will not be tackled until the day before the World Cup, depending of course on the weather conditions in Hoogerheide. ‘That’s why we’re waiting a bit longer to set out some sections,’ he says. ‘If there is still wetness, we will have to start puzzling. Especially about the stretch near the material post and the VIP tent.’

Contenders and favorites World Championship Cyclo-Cross 2023

It should come as no surprise. If you dive into the favorites Cyclo-cross World Cup 2023, you end up with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. And after that, nothing for quite a while. Sure, Lars van der Haar, Laurens Sweeck and Eli Iserbyt are classics through and through. But these pure cyclists are no match for the multi-talented Matje and Wout. So, without any craziness, we are going to get a new duel between the Two Matadors.

Searching for the preview in Dutch? Find here the voorbeschouwing WK Veldrijden 2023!