'Surprisingly large and interesting' - Van Den Spiegel on surge in Cyclocross World Cup hosting bids for future seasons

Flanders Classics CEO Tomas Van Den Spiegel has stated that “the number of candidates is surprisingly large and interesting” to host a round of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup for the 2026-27 season and beyond.

"We're ambitious for the future. The number of applications received, for the upcoming edition and beyond, is surprisingly large and interesting,” said Van Den Spiegel to Het Laatste Nieuws. He also acknowledged an openness to expand the World Cup to more countries, but expressed that the riders' priority comes first.

“It's up to us to determine what is logistically and financially feasible. We're open to everything, including non-European locations, but we're careful not to put an extra burden on the teams, riders, and calendar."

This season’s World Cup has featured rounds from six different countries; Czech Republic, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. The last event to take place outside of Europe came in the opening round of the 2023-2024 season in Waterloo, United States.

Mathieu van der Poel leads the overall standings in the men’s race and could win his first World Cup title since the 2017-18 season. Meanwhile, Lucinda Brand has already wrapped up the Women’s series after the tenth round in Benidorm, Spain.

This is the second season since significant changes were made to the structure of the World Cup, with a reduced and more compact twelve-round schedule from late November to early January.

Additionally, a change to the points system has enabled Van der Poel to still be competitive for the overall victory despite missing the opening rounds, something that hasn’t been the case in previous seasons with the Dutchman’s reduced cyclocross schedule compared to the majority of the field. 

Van Den Spiegel was very grateful for the seven-time world champion’s commitment to the World Cup calendar and acknowledged the rising stars of the season who have made significant steps up.

“Gratitude is the right word. For the fact that Van der Poel still rode eight of the twelve rounds. It adds cachet to the overall standings and helps us further develop the World Cup,” said Van Den Spiegel. 

“On the other hand, we were pleased to see that, with [Thibau] Nys, [Emiel] Verstrynge, [Tibor] Del Grosso, and co, there's definitely life after Mathieu and Wout [van Aert]. This was already the case in the women's race, despite Lucinda Brand's dominance.”

The Flanders Classic CEO also explained how the organisation is looking to take on the advice of the riders when it comes to building a calendar that works for them.

"We're also learning, to be clear. The date of Terralba (Sardinia), for example, isn't ideal. And we're listening to riders and teams, trying to take their training camps into account. But we are now resting on strong foundations."