Belgian CX coach bides his time

Belgian national cyclo-cross coach Rudy De Bie is in no hurry to make his selection for next month's world championships in Treviso, Italy - preferring to wait until after the Liévin round of the Cyclo-cross World Cup on January 13. The Belgian squad is usually selected following the national championship - held on January 4 in Hofstade - but De Bie says the event is not a reliable measure of which riders are in form.

"The Belgian championship is a special competition, where extra factors come into play aside from form alone," De Bie told SportWereld. "The parcours in Hofstade is not as extreme as last year, but it remains a championship. However, I do not want to base the entire selection on that kind of competition."

Under UCI rules, Belgium is allowed eight starters in the elite men's race: a six-man selection plus the outgoing world champion (Erwin Vervecken) and UCI rankings leader (Sven Nys).