The Cyclo-cross World Championships will be held in Fayetteville on January 28 and 29 next weekend. In the States, however, on Friday 28 January, experiments will also be conducted with a new competition, the ‘Team Relay’. However, as one of the major countries in cyclo-cross, the Netherlands will not participate in this test event.

In the Team Relay, each country will compete with one man and one woman from the elite category. The teams are supplemented with two men from the promise or junior category and two women from the promise or junior category. Each member of the team spins one round. It doesn’t matter which one men start in. A ‘change box’ will be made, where the riders can tap each other, as in a real relay. The only requirement is that the participants in the Team Relay also have a starting permit for an individual discipline at the Cyclo-cross World Championships.

However, the Team Relay takes place one day before the women’s race and two days before the men’s race. Since it is not a priority for the individual participants so close to their main goal, national coach Gerben de Knegt says that the Netherlands is not participating. ‘I want all the focus on the real races and I want to oblige them to participate. It is also a test guy and not an official World Cup,” De Knegt told cycling flash. Belgium is participating, although they are by no means at the start with their best riders. It seems to be mainly a ‘test’ event, but maybe next weekend hope for the future.