Preview World Cup Benidorm 2025 | No Belgian mud, but Costa Blanca vibes for Van Aert and Co!

Benidorm is shedding its somewhat dull reputation in Belgium and the Netherlands due in part to the program Benidorm Bastards. Organizing sporting events is a logical step in the right direction, and it's also ideal for the riders themselves: most are somewhere in Spain at this time of year anyway to finalize their World Cup preparations through good endurance training.

Speaking of World Cups: on the Costa Blanca, they would love to host the 2029 cyclo-cross edition after the first two World Cups in Benidorm were a huge success. Whether it was the recon on Saturday or one of the many races on Sunday, it was always full house. The fact that Wout van Aert Mathieu van der Poel also got great winners after equally exciting races will certainly have contributed to that.

2024 Wout van Aert / Fem van Empel
2023 Mathieu van der Poel / Fem van Empel

We're on the Spanish coast, but we're not going to see a sand cross - despite a small sandpit - in Benidorm. Parque El Moralet and Parque Foietes are also where the spectacle is taking place for the third season. A technical cross, which Puck Pieterse and Shirin van Anrooij labeled a "kind of street race" at the first edition. Fast, quite a lot of asphalt, and still technical. And watch out for crashes two weeks before the World Championships.

Compared to last year, some adjustments have been made, but the core of the cyclo-cross race remains the same. There is still a long, dirty strip of asphalt uphill towards the Parque El Moralet and the fast descent through the gravel back to the Foietes City Park. Except for some minor changes, the more technical zones are also in the same sections. The most significant change is that the riders ride further up the El Moralet park, then dive into the slightly longer descent.

Weather
The weather is good in Costa Blanca. On Sunday, it will be 14 degrees Celsius, the sun will shine, and there will be a light breeze.

Times (Sunday, January 19, 2024)
Start women: 7:40 AM EST
Finish women: 8:30 AM EST
Start men: 9:10 AM EST
Finish men: 10:10 AM EST

All the best and most famous women compete in the Cycloc-cross World Cup in Benidorm. And that's practically for the first time this winter, although that's mainly because Marianne Vos is only riding her third winter race here. Vos is not a top favorite, but her Visma | Lease a Bike teammate Fem van Empel is. She already managed to win both editions in Benidorm so far.

Behind her are the names she has been competing against all winter. Lucinda Brand of Baloise Glowi Lions has the lead in the World Cup firmly in her hands and returns to competition after a week of well-deserved rest. At the same time, the Fenix-Deceuninck duo of Puck Pieterse - as the brand new Dutch champion - and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado always manage to throw themselves into the battle for the podium.

SD Worx-Protime also has two options: Marie Schreiber and Blanka Vas, who, with their qualities on the road, should also do well on the Spanish gravel. The same goes for top British talent Zoe Backstedt of Canyon//SRAM, who sees compatriot Cat Ferguson make her World Cup comeback after a nasty crash in Hulst.

Belgian champion Marion Norbert-Riberolle finds a course that doesn't suit her on Crelan-Corendon's behalf. Other options for a nice place of honor are Manon Bakker, Inge van der Heijden, Sanne Cant (Crelan-Corendon), Aniek van Alphen (Seven Racing), Leonie Bentveld and Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel), while young Slovakian Viktoria Chladonova will make her debut on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike.

Top favorite: Fem van Empel (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders: Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions)
Long shots: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck), Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), Marie Schreiber and Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime)

Last year, we enjoyed the Big Three in Benidorm; this season, only Wout van Aert of Visma | Lease a Bike remains. The Belgian is staying with his team in nearby La Nucia, so it was logical to add the race in Benidorm, his second-to-last this winter. Mathieu van der Poel is working hard on his base for the cyclo-cross World Championships and spring and will not compete.

Who will be competing? Belgian champion Thibau Nys of Baloise Glowi Lions, although it also coincides with a training period with Lidl-Trek's road team in Denia. Dutch champion Tibor Del Grosso will also be there, but he will start in the U23 category. Numbers two and three of the Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships compete with the elite, Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Glowi Lions) and Joris Nieuwenhuis of Ridley.

The same, of course, applies to the men at the top of the World Cup standings. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel), Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP), and Joran Wyseure of Crelan-Corendon currently occupy the first three spots there and will look to defend those positions further in Benidorm.

Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel), Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Emiel Verstruynge, and Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) are also participating as regular Belgian values, as is Dutchman Lars van der Haar, who is wearing the Baloise Glowi Lions shirt. He sees this cyclo-cross race more as training, he said after the Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championship. Felipe Orts is eager to show himself. The Ridley man competes in his home race on the Costa Blanca and would love to be on the podium.

Top favorite: Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders: Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions) and Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley)
Long shots: Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Glowi Lions), Michael Vanthourenhout, Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel) and Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP)

Eurosport will bring the cross from 7:30 AM EST live on Eurosport 1, Eurosport.nl, and Discovery+. NOS will broadcast the World Cup via a live stream on nos.nl and may also cover the cyclo-cross in its afternoon broadcast on NPO1.