12-race calendar for 2025-2026 Cyclocross World Cup reveals seven dates in Belgium, return to Sardinia
Koksijde returns to the series on same weekend as Antwerpen
![KOKSIJDE BELGIUM JANUARY 03 LR Lucinda Brand of The Netherlands and Team Baloise Trek Lions and Fem Van Empel of The Netherlands and Team Visma Lease A Bike compete during the 18th X2O Trofee Cyclocross Vlaamse Duinencross Koksijde 2025 Womens Elite on January 03 2025 in Koksijde Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Y2szrb4iTmoVzEmzuhxdYM-1024-80.jpg)
The 2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup calendar will replicate a 12-race series for a second season, with a return to Koksijde and a second try at a new round in Sardinia after the Italian race was cancelled due to extreme weather last December.
Along with Flanders Classics, the UCI confirmed that races in Bensaçon and Dublin will not return, and the stop in Hulst was vacated for the Dutch city to host the Cyclocross World Championships, January 30-February 1, 2026.
The calendar will begin on the last two weekends of November at Tabor, Czechia, a 16-time World Cup host which last saw the series in 2022, and Flamanville, France, which has hosted a World Cup twice before.
A return to the coastal town of Cabras, Italy is scheduled for December 7 marks the third round. Also slotted in the same spot last year, a storm with heavy rainfall and powerful winds of more than 90 kph caused the UCI and race organisers to cancel those races just hours before the elite women were to compete.
Seven of the World Cup races would be held in Belgium, including Namur on December 14, leading to a weekend doubleheader on December 20-12 in Antwerp and Koksijde, the latter challenging riders with the large sand dunes that have seen a three-year absence. A trio of traditional Belgian events stretch through 'kerstperiode' and the start of the new year - Gavere, Dendermonde and Zonhoven.
Benidorm, Spain, repeats for a mid-January contest, with the season concluding with a Maasmechelan and Hoogerheide final weekend before the World Championships, set for Hulst.
Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) won his first overall World Cup title for elite men, while Lucinda Brand (Baloise-Glowi) earned the third elite women's overall title in her career.
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For the 2024-2025 cyclocross season, the UCI instituted a new 'protected status' for a limited number of events to ensure top riders would focus on World Cups over series, which this past year included Superprestige, X2O Trophee, Exact Cross and Coupe de France. Rounds in Dublin, Sardinia, Besançon and Benidorm received this status last season.
At this early date, the UCI management committee had not determined selections for the upcoming season, which an amended rule last March stated "will not concern more than half of the rounds" of the World Cup calendar.
Cyclocross World Cup 2025-2026 schedule
- Round 1 - Sunday, November 23, Tabor, Czechia
- Round 2 - Sunday, November 30, Flamanville, France
- Round 3 - Sunday, December 7, Cabras, Italy
- Round 4 - Sunday, December 14, Namur, Belgium
- Round 5 - Saturday, December 20, Antwerpen, Belgium
- Round 6 - Sunday, December 21, Koksijde, Belgium
- Round 7 - Friday, December 26, Gavere, Belgium
- Round 8 - Sunday, December 28, Dendermonde, Belgium
- Round 9 - Sunday, January 4, Zonhoven, Belgium
- Round 10 - Sunday, January 18, Benidorm, Spain
- Round 11 - Saturday, January 24, Maasmechelen, Belgium
- Round 12 - Sunday, January 25, Hoogerheide, Netherlands
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).