Inside Cyclocross #55
The Belgian cyclocross season is underway! Get the latest news from inside the Belgian field, and a profile on Ethiopian cyclocross rider Tofik Beshir!
A jam-packed edition of Inside Cyclocross this week, as the Belgian season got underway in Meulebeke. Traditionally, most teams hold their team presentation’s that week as well.
This week, we have analysis of the first Belgian race in Meulebeke. We also have articles on the team presentations of Crelan-Corendon and Pauwels-Sauzen, with some dubious comments being made at the latter. We further present features on the injuries of Iserbyt and Worst, as well as a rider profile on Ethiopian Tofik Beshir.
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Belgian season start marked by absentees
The 2025–2026 Belgian cyclocross season got underway in Meulebeke this weekend. However, most of the talk went to the riders who weren’t there rather than those who were. Still, there are some early conclusions to be drawn from the first round of the Exact Cross Series.
By Issam Er-Rabhi
The men’s podium in Meulebeke - Exact Cross
A few weeks ago, we published a press release from the organization in Meulebeke. The race organizers proudly announced a strong start list, with most of the best full-time cyclocross riders included. However, when the final start lists came out last week, several riders who had been announced were no longer on them. That set off a week of discussions about who was starting when, and why.
First, some of those reasons. For riders like Del Grosso, Pieterse, Backstedt, and Van der Poel, it’s known that they need a longer rest period following the road season. This year, however, that became a reason for even more riders to postpone their season start. The organizers in Meulebeke moved the race one week earlier to avoid a conflict with the Gravel World Championships, and as a result, many deemed the first weekend of October too early to begin their cyclocross campaign.
Those Gravel World Championships are another reason several riders are not yet racing cyclocross. They prefer to focus on that event first before switching to cyclocross tires. Additionally, several riders are injured.
The start field on the women’s side was especially thin. Lucinda Brand is taking a bit of extra time to transition from the road season to the cross season. Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado-Jans has a knee injury and appears to be out for several weeks, while Fem van Empel will start her season in Ruddervoorde.
It will be some time until road riders like Van Aert race cross - Kristof Ramon / Red Bull Content Pool
Puck Pieterse, Zoe Backstedt, Kata Blanka Vas, and Marie Schreiber are all taking rest after busy road and mountain bike campaigns. There is no indication of when they will join the field, but it’s unlikely to be before the European Championships. It’s worth noting that Vas and Schreiber will be directed by Sanne Cant this winter, as she becomes the cyclocross coordinator for SD Worx.
There were also several top-10-caliber riders who have started their season but didn’t race in Meulebeke. Maghalie Rochette is racing in the U.S., as is Manon Bakker. Sara Casasola started her season in Italy this weekend, taking the win in Tarvisio.
Despite some big names missing in Meulebeke, the racing was entertaining. Marion Norbert Riberolle and Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon), Alicia Franck (Lotto-Xoats), and Aniek van Alphen (Seven Racing) were engaged in an intriguing battle.
Van der Heijden made an early move but decided it was too long to continue solo on a course with so many straightaways and strong wind. She held back but still appeared to be the strongest rider. In the penultimate lap, she broke away with Van Alphen and seemed in control of the race.
The podium (with beer) of the women’s race - Exact Cross
However, in the final lap, Van der Heijden made a mistake that could have been decisive. She set the pace too early on a long straight just before the finish, which meant the tempo dropped towards the end. Van Alphen seized the opportunity to take the lead before the final corner. With a finish like Meulebeke’s, it’s hard to come around the outside on the athletics track, but Van der Heijden still managed to do so.
Given the quality of the start field, it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from this race. The top four riders were also the top four in Beringen last year, if you exclude Van Empel, Brand, and Alvarado, who weren’t there.
On the men’s side, the start field wasn’t complete either. Nys will start his season on the Koppenberg. It’s speculated that Van Aert may return to action in late November, with Van der Poel and Del Grosso joining in December. Pidcock will likely not race any cyclocross this season, though his coach hasn’t ruled out a handful of races over Christmas for fun.
Tom Pidcock will focus more on MTB and road - WBD Sports / Red Bull Content Pool
Like many season openers in the past, this one turned into a tactical mind game. Riders were shaking off the rust and adapting to the race mindset again. Many were cautious not to blow up, as often happens early in the season. Of course, that also happened in Meulebeke. Felipe Orts launched a big attack in the second half of the race but paid the price a bit later. His Ridley teammate Nieuwenhuis seemed to experience the same early on but regrouped to finish fourth.
Another thing that stood out was that Crelan-Corendon continues the trend of being the leading early-season cyclocross team. Without Iserbyt, Vanthourenhout was completely alone in a large pack of Crelan riders. At one point, four of the seven leaders were from Crelan.
Crelan owed it to their numbers to finish the job, and they did. Laurens Sweeck made several moves, but in the end it was Joran Wyseure who got away. Just like in Ruddervoorde last year, he launched a well-timed attack. Going into the final lap, he broke clear, and Vanthourenhout found himself staring at three Crelan riders, hoping someone would chase Wyseure. It was too late, and Sweeck completed the party for Crelan by finishing second.
The power balance between Pauwels-Sauzen and Crelan-Corendon will be interesting to follow in the coming years. The former had been the leading CX team for nearly a decade but lost that position last year. With Vanthourenhout now 32 and uncertainty surrounding Iserbyt’s return to form, Pauwels’ position is weakening further. With Gerben Kuypers they’re bringing in new blood, but this will be a vital season for him. After two seasons with major setbacks, he now needs to perform to avoid going into the books as a one-season wonder.
Pauwels Sauzen Altez sets big goals for 2025, but remains stuck in a 1990 mindset
Pauwels Sauzen-Altez is entering the new cyclocross season with a fresh sponsor, lofty ambitions, and a sharpened focus on national glory. But for all the talk of progress, the team still presents a picture that feels rooted in the past: out of 18 riders unveiled at the team presentation, only two were women. In a sport where women’s cyclocross has become one of the most competitive and popular arenas, the imbalance is more than just striking. It is symptomatic of a mindset that has not kept pace with the times.
By Noah van Putten
Pauwels Sauzen might have based their 2025 kit on the World Cup leaders jersey - YefriFotos
Pauwels Sauzen had its team presentation last week, in which they announced a new secondary title sponsor. When the Cibel Clementines became naming partner last year, the manager Jurgen Mettepenningen already said it was a temporary fix to replace betting company Bingoal. Now, industrial construction contractor Altez is stepping into the world of cross.
Having found a reliable new title sponsor, the future of the Belgian team is secured. With Gerben Kuypers the team is adding another big name to its men’s roster for the upcoming season. Kuypers, who will join the team in January, is still a raw diamond. The last two years haven’t been the best for him, but he still has potential deep inside him to win big races.
However, the contrast could hardly be sharper between the men’s and women’s side of the team. On the men’s side, the team talks in grand terms: a Belgian Championship jersey in Beringen is the explicit season goal, alongside ten televised wins and at least one major classification. General manager Jurgen Mettepenningen speaks with confidence about ambition, structure, and legacy. Yet when the conversation shifts to the women’s program, the tone collapses. The team has 18 riders, and just two of them are women.
Pauwels Sauzen has invested in men’s recruitment, but barely in women’s - YefriFotos
When our colleagues of Wielerverhaal, who we have a publishing cross-partnership with this winter, asked about this, the answers were straight up embarrassing.
Technical director Mario De Clercq said:
“If you have any good female cyclocross riders, bring them to me! The pool is too shallow, especially among Belgian riders in cyclocross. The gap left by Sanne Cant certainly hasn’t been filled yet. I don’t see any immediate successors lined up. I rate Marion Norbert Riberolle as the best Belgian cyclocross rider currently, but she’s still a step below the now established stars at the top: the Dutch quartet Van Empel, Pieterse, Brand, and Alvarado. The rest of the Belgians are still a bit further down the line. Finding a Belgian rider who can ride on screen, and thus in the top 10 of a televised cyclocross race, is practically impossible.”
General manager Mettepenningen took it even a step further, saying; “If the women’s cyclocross race were held after the men’s, not half the viewers would stay, and the crowds would head to the beer tents.”
Mettepenningen’s remark could have been lifted straight from the 1990s. It’s so stupid we debated if we should even give it attention, but at the end we decided we should, because it’s emblematic of how some Belgians still view women’s sport.
Denise Betsema was one of the top riders a few years ago - YefriFotos
There is no evidence to back up his comment. Viewing figures for women’s racing have been robust over the past couple of years, with the women’s races often being watched more than the men’s in The Netherlands. Furthermore, observational research by Daam van Reeth shows a high degree of gender blindness for fans across winter sports. In Biathlon the 3pm prime time slot rotates between men and women. One week the men go first, the other week it’s the women. This has no significant influence on the viewing figures for each time slot.
Then, the narrative of scarcity used by De Clercq is convenient, but hardly convincing. Teams across Europe have found ways to identify, nurture, and develop women’s talent. Even in Belgium, the so-called barren ground, has produced home-grown talents. Fleur Moors, Xaydee van Sinaey, Julie Brouwers, there are plenty of young Belgian riders, Pauwels-Sauzen has just never been interested in developing them.
What’s really missing is not riders, but imagination. De Clercq admits the team cannot offer a road program, something top women now expect as part of a full-season structure. Instead of using that as yet another excuse, the team could also step up like other programs have done to provide women with a road program.
Fem van Empel has brought Pauwels Sauzen two dozen wins over the years - YefriFotos
While De Clercq might have a point that signing a high-profile female rider wouldn’t have been easy this transfer window, the real reason lies deeper. The team has had years to replace a declining Denise Betsema, but never undertook action. Aniek van Alphen, Annemarie Worst, Norbert Riberolle, all have been on the market at some point. It just hasn’t been a priority for Pauwels Sauzen to reinforce their women’s department, or even accommodate their female riders. Fleur Moors was once with Pauwels Sauzen, but left before she even made name on the road. Denise Betsema said at the team she was just “one of the guys” but now appreciated training with more women at De Ceuster - Bouwpunt.
And yet, amidst this institutional inertia, the women who are part of Pauwels Sauzen-Altez deserve more than to be cast as symbolic placeholders. Leonie Bentveld, a final year U23, has already stacked up top-10 finishes in major races. Her ambitions for this winter are clear: she wants to win the European and World Championships in her category, while bridging the gap to the top four elite. Shanyl De Schoesitter, meanwhile, faces the lonely road of a developing rider without the reinforcement of a larger women’s squad around her.
The 2025 season may bring jerseys, trophies, and headlines for Mettepenningen’s men. But the bigger question is whether his team can shake off its nostalgic blinders and recognize the present. Perhaps they can go into the pit and change their 1990 Colnago for a 2025 Ridley.
Tofik Beshir, Ethiopia’s first cyclocross rider
It’s not every day you see an Ethiopian flag in the results of a cyclocross race, but this year it’s been standard at every race of the USCX series. First-year U23 Tofik Beshir is making history as the first Ethiopian cyclocross rider. The American resident won two UCI events in Cincinnati last year, and immediately placed in the top 10 of all USCX races he did this year. Not bad for a first-year U23.
By Noah van Putten - in Baltimore, USA
Tofik Beshir in Baltimore - Biker James
In Belgium, cyclocross is about Belgians. If you move there, learn the language, and race hard, the crowd will soon adopt you as one of their own. Yet the coverage remains firmly Belgian centric, and to a large extent that is understandable. The downside is that there is little awareness of how the sport develops elsewhere.
As a result, perceptions about riders from abroad often lean on stereotypes. Czech riders? They must all be good in the snow, because Peter Dlask nearly won a world title in the snow and Marton Dina took a World Cup win in Hoogerheide. A World Cup in Benidorm? That must mean racing on the beach.
Cyclocross is still seen primarily as a European sport, which is fair enough. Apart from Canada and the United States, few non European countries have left a real mark. For many Belgian fans, the reference point for “exotic” cyclocross is still the 2000s TV show Allez Allez Zimbabwe, where Roger De Vlaeminck tried to coach a team from Zimbabwe to the world championships. By today’s standards, the program would not be culturally appropriate seen the presence of cultural mockery, but it remains what many think of when they hear “African cyclocross.”
The cover of Allez Allez Zimbabwe - VTM
Now, that image might finally start to change. Tofik Beshir, an Ethiopian based in the United States, has finished in the top ten of every USCX Series race this year. We caught up with the new CXD Trek rider last week in Baltimore.
As a kid, Beshir never considered a career as a cyclist. Growing up in Ethiopia, he was more drawn to traditional sports like running and soccer/football.
“I grew up in Ethiopia and moved to the U.S. when I was nine, so nine years ago now. As a kid, I never had a bike. I come from a background where we run and play soccer. Being outdoors is a real thing, but I never thought about riding a bike. It’s just different there, but I never thought I would be a cyclist.”
It was only when Beshir was thirteen, and a bike shop visited his school, that he got drawn into racing himself. He attended a local race and met Marc Frazer, who gave him a spot on Kelly Benefits.
“There was a non-profit local bike shop that came to my school to get us to work on bikes. I thought the mechanics side was really interesting. I enjoyed it, and then there was a race called Armed Forces. I went there, just riding around. That’s where I met Marc Frazer, who would become my team director at Kelly Benefits. That’s probably four or five seasons ago now. He got me into racing, a world I didn’t know anything about.”
“It (Kelly Benefits, ed.) has contributed big time. They were the ones that found me three years ago. My team director there took me to all the races. Whether it was a three-hour drive or a ten-hour drive, he took me. He’s been a big part of my cycling career since the beginning. He just found me roaming around at a race. I could barely ride ten miles without blowing up, but he saw something in me.”
Beshir racing for Kelly Benefits in 2022 - Charm City CX
Everyone who we spoke to, underscored the role of Kelly Benefits and Marc Frazer in the development of Beshir. The progress, physically and mentally, made by the Ethiopian was visible to them, and the role of Frazer is credited with a large portion of that progress.
Frazer took a big shot taking on a totally unproven rider like Beshir. Like most riders new to the sport, Beshir followed a steep learning curves. He didn’t fully understand the concept of the pits in cyclocross at first (he got disqualified for taking someone else’s bike once), and technically he was underdeveloped as well. Several frames broke during his younger years, but Frazer had no regrets. In 2023, he reflected in a social media post, writing:
After competing at a lower level last CX season, Kelly Benefits rider Tofik Beshir made it a goal to compete at the UCI level in 2023. There were lots of giggling and comments about that decision...I heard them all AND remember who and what was said. Amazingly he finished the series 4th overall and achieved a UCI podium. Fun stats.. 1600+ miles traveled. 2 carbon fiber cx frames repaired. 1 Bontrager xxl tubular trashed. Fake podcast declaring Jet Pizza in Cincinnati and Ben and Bill’s Ice Cream in Falmouth best pizza/ice cream on the tour.
Beshir never forgot where it all started, at the Armed Forces classic - AFC
This year, Beshir made the jump from Kelly Benefits to CXD Trek, a transfer he attributes to becoming a more mature rider:
“I tried to join the two previous years, but they rejected me. I was like a kid. I was super impatient and broke a lot of bikes. Now, I like to think I’m more mature, but I still need to work on a few things, well, a lot of things actually. The main thing is still being more patient, waiting for the right moment. I often feel the urge that it has to happen now, so I try silly overtakes. Not thinking too much: just breathe, is something I tell myself a lot in races now. Opening gaps and getting them back later is perfectly fine to do in a race.”
“Nevertheless, the team has been great. Kelly wasn’t a cyclocross team. It was amazing the way they guided me, but it was a lot of making things work. Here at CXD there are people to take care of things so I can focus on racing. I don’t need to work on my bike, I can tell our mechanic what I’d like to have done before the race. It’s a big difference in everything, really. All I need to do on race weekends is come to the course, do the training, sit down, eat, warm up, and then return their efforts by giving it my all out there on the course.”
Beshir on the podium of Rochester last year - Rich Logic
Beshir races like he speaks: with respect, but with tremendous grit. He attacks every corner and appears super eager. Racing with clear glasses, you could at times see the fire in his eyes in Baltimore. His results this year have been impressive, with top ten finishes in all races of the USCX Series:
“Everyone was telling me the step to the elites and U23 would be a big one, but honestly it didn’t feel like that for me. I was mentally ready for it. I was training a month before the cross season through road racing, and I felt strong. Everyone makes excuses: ‘Oh, I finished here because I’m a first-year U23,’ but that’s not my thing. My thing is going all out. If you do something, go all out. What I learned from my previous team director Marc Frazer is that excuses are tools of incompetence, so I take that to heart. He also taught me to race every race like it’s your last, so that’s what I do. I race with grit, the knife between the teeth, giving it my all every time.”
Beshir is eager to leave his mark on the remainder of the season. He said he has big goals, but is weary of voicing them because he believes it can come across as bragging about his own level. He prefers to stay humble, away from the spotlight, as the only person he races for is himself. Those hoping to see him race in Europe will, unfortunately, be disapointed for now. In an earlier interview with Cycling Bottle he said he is unable to make it over to Europe, due to a lasting issue with his U.S. papers.
Annemarie Worst sidelined after crash in Simac Ladies Tour
A name missing at the start of this cross season is the one of Annemarie Worst. the Simac Ladies Tour was supposed to be a stepping stone toward a cyclocross season that finally went smoothly. Instead, the Dutch rider once again finds herself sidelined before the mud and barriers of the autumn races have even really begun.
By Tom Dussek
Another setback for Annermarie Worst - YefriFotos
In early September, Annemarie Worst lined up for the Simac Ladies Tour, a six-day WorldTour road race. The 29-year-old from Nunspeet raced mainly as preparation for the winter. She told local newspaper De Stentor: “I see road races as training food for the upcoming cyclocross season. It’s a good way to get ready.” Racing for Belgian team Fenix-Deceuninck on the road and spin-off venture Seven Racing in cyclocross, she relished the chance to mix disciplines: “It works well. You can combine road and cross at the highest level, and become better at both.”
But during the fourth stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, things went badly wrong.
