The Cyclocross World Cup kicks off this week in Tabor

After the initial part of this season, where the European Championship has been the highlight, we enter the most intense part of the 2025/26 cyclocross season calendar with the start of the World Cup, on next Sunday, November 23 at the legendary Czech circuit of Tabor. This race will be the first of the 12 events in this competition that will take place over the next two months.

World Cup Schedule for Tabor Cyclocross

Sunday, November 23

• 8:50 – Men's Junior
• 9:55 – Women's Junior
• 11:20 – Men's U23
• 13:00 – Women's Elite
• 14:30 – Men's Elite

Favorites to Win the Tabor World Cup Cyclocross Event

The World Cup starting next Sunday in Tabor is uncertain if we consider what we have seen in the nearly two months of races, with numerous changes occurring at the top of the podium and many groups competing in the last races until well into them, showing the equality and vigilance among the usual contenders for the top spots.

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If we add that neither Wout van Aert nor Mathieu van der Poel have even announced their calendar, which is likely to be very limited, of races they will compete in on the mud, and that Tom Pidcock is almost confirmed not to race cyclocross this season, we are left with a World Cup start where it is difficult to predict a favorite, not even for the overall, let alone in the short term for the Tabor race.

Before the European Championship, we would have predicted that Michael Vanthourenhout would dominate the season and was the main favorite to win the opening event. Obviously, the Pauwels cyclist can never be ruled out for a victory, but after a bad day at the European Championship, we have seen him more chasing from afar than in a position to fight for the win in the last races.

On the contrary, someone who has gradually shown to be more solid is Thibau Nys, who is always there but lacks that calmness to finish defining. He missed the European Championship against Toon Aerts, who beat him in the sprint, and also the last Superprestige event where a mistake of getting stuck in a sandy area deprived him of a victory that seemed almost certain. However, the Belgian redeemed himself in the X2O event held the following day.

Just like in the European Championship, we again mention Joris Nieuwenhuis among the favorites, who, without making much noise, always rides around 5th or 6th place, knowing how to appear at the key moments of each race. A steady and consistent performance allowed him to win the Superprestige event in Merksplas a few days ago.

And speaking of Superprestige, we cannot fail to mention Niels Vandeputte, the current leader of that championship, who has been showing tremendous ambition in all the races, always trying to take the lead in hardening the races from the start and who feels no pressure leading the event. In any case, he needs to finish with a big win all the podium places he has been achieving; why can't it be this Sunday?

A similar situation applies to Pim Ronhaar, who is almost always among the top positions throughout the race, having collected a good number of podium finishes but failing to convert that good performance into a victory.

Finally, more of a wish than a certainty that he will be one of the main favorites, we cannot fail to mention Felipe Orts, who is firmly established in the world Top 10 but is struggling to take that next step to place him definitively among those fighting for victories. After the weeks leading up to the European Championship where his performance was below what he expected, the Alicante rider seems to have regained his sensations in this last week and promises to be in the group fighting for victory and, who knows, if the opportunity to achieve that long-awaited win may arise.

Tabor World Cup Circuit

We are undoubtedly facing one of the most classic circuits of the World Cup, which has hosted the World Championship on more than one occasion.

A circuit that is raced on grassland, which means a lot. The surface will be soft for sure, offering a heavy ride that takes its toll simply due to the passage of the race, despite not being a course with significant elevation changes. Of course, with a little rain, it becomes extremely selective due to the mud, which even forces riders to carry their bikes on their shoulders in flat areas to deal with the tight turns.

As for technical difficulties, we only find two sections of stairs that require dismounting and a plank crossing that, in principle, should not be decisive in the outcome of the race, especially since they are located in the central third of each lap.

How to Watch the Tabor World Cup

As we explained when we published the calendar for this cyclocross season, Eurosport and the platform HBO-Max have the exclusive rights to broadcast the entire season.

Both the Women's Elite race and its male counterpart will have live coverage, both on the HBO-Max platform and through the Eurosport 2 channel, which will offer multiple replays in the afternoon and on subsequent days.