The end of the 2020-21 cyclo-cross season is upon us, and, though the season has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships are all set for January 30-31.
Dutch leader and reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel is once again set to face off against his long-time rival Wout van Aert of Belgium for the men's crown, while Dutchwomen Lucinda Brand and Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado are among the favourites for the women's race.
At their last meetings at the UCI World Cup finale in Overijse, Van Aert beat Van der Poel, while world champion Alvarado got the better of Brand.
UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships 2021 – Preview
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It's not all about the big four riders, though. Eli Iserbyt, Toon Aerts, Laurens Sweeck, and Michael Vanthourenhout are on the Belgian team. Tom Pidcock is Great Britain's challenger, while Zdenek Štybar races for the Czech Republic and Heinrich Haussler makes his debut for Australia.
In the women's race, the stacked Dutch team also contains Marianne Vos, Yara Kastelijn, Denise Betsema and Annemarie Worst, while Sanne Cant leads Belgium and Clara Honsinger heads up the US team.
The best way to watch the action while staying clear of COVID-19 is to follow it online or on television, and what better place than right here on Cyclingnews?
We'll bring you full coverage of all the major races, with reports, results, and news throughout the winter.
Read on to find out how to watch the 2020-2021 cyclo-cross season via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
Live streams
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for alerts on important stories and action during the cyclo-cross season. Meanwhile, ExpressVPN can help you watch the races, no matter your location.
The races are being aired live in Dutch on various channels: Sporza in Belgium, and Eurosport and NOS in the Netherlands. Check below for a full list of races and broadcasters airing them.
Outside of Belgium, many of the races will be live streamed on GCN Racing, while the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup and World Championships are normally broadcast on the UCI Youtube channel.
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup will be hosted on FloBikes in the USA and Canada.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With ExpressVPN, you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Cyclo-cross schedule & broadcasters
| Date | Race | Belgium | Netherlands | Outside Belgium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/30-1/31/2021 | UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Oostende | Sporza | Eurosport, NOS | GCN Racing |
| February | ||||
| 2/3/21 | Ethias Parkcross | VTM | Eurosport | GCN Racing |
| 2/6/21 | Telenet Superprestige - Middelkerke | Telenet, Proximus (non-restricted) | Eurosport | GCN Racing |
| 2/7/21 | X2O Trophy Krawatencross | Sporza | Eurosport | GCN Racing |
| 2/13/21 | Ethias Meetjescross | VTM | Eurosport | GCN Racing |
| 2/14/21 | X2O Trophy Brussels Universities Cyclocross | Sporza | Eurosport | GCN Racing |
| 2/20/21 | Waaslandcross | Sporza | Eurosport | GCN Racing |