Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) will headline the women's and men's fields competing at the opening round 2020-2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup on Sunday in Tabor, in the Czech Republic.
The women's field will host the largest number of participants with 54 entries from 13 nations, and there will be 10 riders from Belgium including former world champion Sanne Cant (IKO-Crelan).
The star of the women's race will be reigning world champion Alvarado, who has dominated the truncated cyclo-cross season this year with wins at European Championships and rounds of the Telenet Superpresitge at Jaarmarktcross, Geiten and Ruddervoorde.
Alvarado is leading the world ranking, but she will have competition from her compatriots and runner-up in the world rankings Annemarie Worst (777) and third placed Lucinda Brand (Telenet Baloise), and fifth placed Yara Kastelijn (Credishop-Fristads). Fifth in the rankings, Maghalie Rochette (Specialized), will also be on the start line.
Van Aert will make his return to cyclo-cross the day before the World Cup at the X²O Badkamer Trofee – formerly the DVV Trofee – in Kortrijk on Saturday, November 28 before travelling to Tabor to compete in the World Cup on Sunday.
The elite men's race will field 40 athletes from 10 nations, and 10 of those participants are from Belgium including Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen), Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen), Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen) and Toon Aerts (Telenet Baloise).
Mathieu van der Poel will not be on the start line but his Dutch compatriots racing will include Lars Van der Haar (Telenet Baloise), Corne van Kessel (Tormans) and David van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix).
The World-Cup series will only include five rounds this year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus beginning in Tabor and then moving on to Namur on December 20, Dendermonde on December 27, Hulst on January 3 and concluding in Overijse on January 24.
The individual World Cup rounds will have increased importance due to the UCI's revised rules for the season. The Cyclo-cross World Championships starting order will be largely determined by the rankings at the end of the World Cup rounds.
At the Cyclo-cross World Cup in Tabor, the women's race will start at 13:10 CET, followed by the men's race at 14:30 CET. Cyclingnews has published a guide on how to watch the 2020-2021 cyclo-cross season via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
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