Cyclocross World Championship 2025: Favourites, start list, TV coverage & live stream
After the cycling world federation UCI cancelled the Road World Championships 2025 to Rwanda and thus for the first time to the African continent, one could say with a slight smile that the desire for further globalisation is also prevailing in cyclocross. For the second time in a row, the cyclocross specialists will not be holding their world championships in one of the Benelux countries, where cyclocross is firmly rooted and incredibly popular. However, the cross-country team will not be travelling too far afield for the annual highlight. The northern French city of Liévin, which has already hosted the 2008 European Championships and various World Cups, has been chosen by the 31 January to 2 February Host of the 76th Cyclocross World Championships. This means that off-road sport is once again making a stop in the country of origin of the world title fights; the first cyclocross world champions were crowned in Paris in 1950.
Cyclocross World Championship 2025 - the schedule
Friday, 31 January
- 12:30 pm: Team relay
Saturday, 1 February
- 11 a.m.: Juniors
- 1 pm Men U23
- 3 pm Women Elite
Sunday, 2 February
- 11 am Juniors
- 1 pm Women U23
- 3 pm Men Elite
Cyclocross World Championship 2025: TV broadcast & live stream
The 2025 Cyclocross World Championships in Liévin can be seen live on television at Eurosport 2 but only the women's and men's elite races. If you want to watch all competitions live (with the exception of the team relay), you can do so at Discovery Plus (subject to a charge) find what you are looking for. The competitions of the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships from Liévin in France can be streamed live there.
The TV broadcast times on Eurosport 2
- Saturday, 1 February | Women's Elite | 14:45-16:20
- Sunday, 2 February | Men's elite | 14:45-16:35
Cyclocross: the rules
The rules are strict: the tyres on which the cross-country racers track through mud and sand must be no wider than 33 millimetres. Cross-country racing also includes running sections, for example up steep steps and climbs, and artificial obstacles in the form of 40-centimetre-high hurdles must be overcome. The discipline, which is only practised in the winter months, is highly intensive: cyclocross races last 45 to 60 minutes and are held on off-road circuits with a maximum length of three kilometres. They demand a high level of physical intensity and skill from the athletes. Cyclocross is most popular in Belgium and the Netherlands. Over the past 25 years, around half of the world championships have been held in these countries, with the last world championship on German soil taking place in St. Wendel in 2011.
Cyclocross World Championship 2025: the course in Liévin (France)
The course, located in the Val de Souchez nature park in Liévin, has a lot to offer that makes cross sport so fascinating. After a long start/finish straight at the Arena Stade Couvert, a tight right-hand bend at the start could lead to decisive battles for position and therefore also to crashes in the scramble. As the lap progresses, two longer sections of stairs and some risky descents await on what is likely to be predominantly muddy terrain. Otherwise, the course offers hardly any technical challenges, with no obstacles to jump over and no sandy sections to cross.
The favourites: Mathieu van der Poel vs. Wout van Aert?
In the men's elite race, the competition will, as so often in the past, have to compete first and foremost with the many-time cross world champion Matthieu van der Poel. The 29-year-old Dutchman from the cross stronghold of Hoogerheide is the top favourite to beat, although hardly anyone can dance through the mud on tyres just 33 millimetres wide with such ease and naturalness as the Glasgow 2023 road world champion.
Nevertheless, his superiority does not necessarily mean that he is bored, as the external circumstances at the cross can dramatically influence the races; a flat tyre at an inopportune moment, a crash on the often very narrow circuits, and a victory that was thought to be certain can slip out of your hands in a matter of seconds on the last lap. One person who could benefit from this, who can really dig himself into a race, is world number one Eli Iserbyt. Both the Belgian, who is only 1.65 metres tall, and the current European champion Thibau Nys will leave no stone unturned to break the Dutch winning streak of recent years. The British rider Tom Pidcock last achieved this with his victory in Fayetteville 2022.
And then there's Wout van Aert. Van der Poel's long-time rival and three-time cyclocross world champion has shown his fighting spirit in recent weeks despite a persistent injury crisis and is now, somewhat surprisingly, taking part in the World Championships. Van Aert has not been in top form recently, but is likely to be van der Poel's toughest opponent. The pure cross specialists such as the Spaniard Felipe Orts or the Belgians Laurens Sweeck and Niels Vandeputte have outsider chances.
Favourites women's elite: Oranje rules?
The outcome of the elite women's race is likely to be much more open and less predictable. Thrilling head-to-head races with alternating winners have characterised the competitions so far this winter. Although last year's defending women's champion is also from the Netherlands, the almost two-year dominance of 22-year-old Fem van Empel seems to have crumbled in recent months. The professional rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who is used to success, has recently had to give way to others more often. The list of names shaking van Empel's throne is much longer than that of the men. Both the resurgent Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado and the now 35-year-old Lucinda Brand are considered to be the fiercest rivals. And the current mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse (see interview) could well make the decisive difference in a tight race situation thanks to her willingness to take risks.
The Germans' chances at the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships
And what about the German starters? The golden years when Klaus-Peter Thaler, Mike Kluge, Hanka Kupfernagel & Co. dominated Europe's cyclocross courses are now decades behind us. Cyclocross is not an Olympic sport, which means there is no funding from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). But support from the German Cycling Federation, which recently changed its name to "German Cycling", has also shifted strongly in favour of track cycling in recent years, states national cyclocross coach Wolfgang Ruser: "We were unable to field any athletes at the European Championships in Pontevedra. They would have had to finance everything themselves, the journey, accommodation and coaches. That wasn't feasible at such a long distance." Nevertheless: "For the World Championships, we are more optimistic that some athletes will be able to fulfil the nomination criteria," says Ruser. In the elite category, these stipulate participation in at least four World Cup races before the World Championships. "I have high hopes for our U23 riders Hannes Degenkolb and Eike Behrens in particular. But Kaija Budde and Max Heiner Oertzen, both in their first U23 year, could also make an impact," he says with regard to the chances of his protégés.
Cyclocross World Championship 2025 Liévin start list
Men's elite
- 1 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
- 2 Lars van der Haar (Netherlands)
- 3 Pim Ronhaar (Netherlands)
- 4 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands)
- 5 Mees Hendrikx (Netherlands)
- 6 Ryan Kamp (Netherlands)
- 7 Corne van Kessel (Netherlands)
- 8 Michael Vantourenhout (Belgium)
- 9 Eli Iserbyt (Belgium)
- 10 Niels Vandeputte (Belgium)
- 11 Toon Aerts (Belgium)
- 12 Joran Wyseure (Belgium)
- 13 Thibau Nys (Belgium)
- 14 Laurens Sweeck (Belgium)
- 15 Emiel Verstrynge (Belgium)
- 16 Jens Adams (Belgium - substitute)
- 17 Toon Vandebosch (Belgium - substitute)
- 18 Wout van Aert (Belgium)
- 19 Witse Meeussen (Belgium - substitute)
- 20 Michael Boroš (Czech Republic)
- 21 Felipe Orts (Spain)
- 22 Kevin Suarez (Spain)
- 23 Mario Junquera (Spain)
- 24 Kevin Kuhn (Switzerland)
- 25 Loris Rouiller (Switzerland)
- 26 Lars Sommer (Switzerland)
- 27 Gilles Mottiez (Switzerland)
- 28 Luke Wiedmann (Switzerland)
- 29 Gioele Bertolini (Italy)
- 30 Federico Ceolin (Italy)
- 31 David Menut (France)
- 32 Clement Venturini (France)
- 33 Joshua Dubau (France)
- 34 Timothé Gabriel (France)
- 35 Martin Groslambert (France)
- 36 Fabien Doubey (France)
- 37 Andrew Strohmeyer (USA)
- 38 Scott Funston (USA)
- 39 Eric Brunner (USA)
- 40 Marcel Meisen (Germany)
- 41 Luca Harter (Germany)
- 42 Jonas Köpsel (Germany)
- 43 Tyler Clark (Canada)
- 44 Cody Scott (Canada)
- 45 Thomas Mein (Great Britain)
- 46 Cameron Mason (Great Britain)
- 47 Marek Konwa (Poland)
- 48 Hijri Oda (Japan)
- 49 Karl-Erik Rosendahl (Denmark)
- 50 Jozsef-Attila Malnasi (Romania)
Women's elite
- 1 Fem van Empel (Netherlands)
- 2 Lucinda Brand (Netherlands)
- 3 Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Netherlands)
- 4 Inge van der Heijden (Netherlands)
- 5 Puck Pieterse (Netherlands)
- 6 Manon Bakker (Netherlands)
- 7 Aniek van Alphen (Netherlands)
- 8 Annemarie Worst (Netherlands)
- 9 Denise Betsema (Netherlands)
- 11 Marion Nortbert-Riberolle (Belgium)
- 12 Julie Brouwers (Belgium)
- 13 Sanne Cant (Belgium)
- 14 Sidney McGill (Canada)
- 15 Christiane Bilodeau (Canada)
- 16 Katelyn Walcroft (Canada)
- 17 Hélène Clauzel (France)
- 18 Amandina Fouquenet (France)
- 19 Caroline Mani (France)
- 20 Amandine Vidon (France)
- 21 Perrine Clauzel (France)
- 22 Anaïs Morichon (France)
- 23 Marlène Petitgirard (France)
- 24 Katie Clouse (USA)
- 25 Elisabeth Brandau (Germany)
- 26 Lucia González Blanco (Spain)
- 27 Sofia Rodriguez Revert (Spain)
- 28 Sara Cueto Vega (Spain)
- 29 Sara Casasola (Italy)
- 30 Carlotta Borello (Italy)
- 31 Rebecca Gariboldi (Italy)
- 32 Eva Lechner (Italy)
- 33 Antonina Bialek (Poland)
- 34 Zuzanna Krzystala (Poland)
- 35 Nadja Heigl (Austria)
- 36 Blanka Vas (Hungary)
- 37 Ann-Dorthe Lisbygd (Denmark)
