Diegem Superprestige cancelled after new COVID-19 spectator ban sparks chaos in Belgian cyclo-cross

Belgian Wout Van Aert and Dutch Mathieu Van Der Poel pictured in action during the men elite race of the World Cup cyclocross in Dendermonde third stage out of five of the UCI World Cup competition in Dendermonde Sunday 27 December 2020 BELGA PHOTO DAVID STOCKMAN Photo by DAVID STOCKMANBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images
(Image credit: David Stockman/Belga/AFP via Getty Images)

A decision by the Belgian government to ban spectators from sporting events has caused chaos amongst cyclo-cross organisers, with the Superprestige races in Diegem on December 29 cancelled and other races at risk. 

The World Cup race in Dendermonde on December 26 will go ahead despite the loss of revenue from spectators, with the ‘big-three’ of cyclo-cross Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock due to clash for the very first time this year. The Heusden-Zolder on December 27 is also set to go ahead and host the second clash of the big three.  The Belgian national championships in Middelkerke on January 8 and 9 appear to have been saved after protests and action from the Belgian cycling federation. However other races later in January have still to be confirmed. 

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.