Stairs are eye candy but barriers a bigger hurdle for Hoogerheide Cyclocross Worlds

Belgian Sven Vanthourenhout Belgian Laurens Sweeck and Belgian Joran Wyseure pictured in action during a training session on the track of this weekends World Championships cyclocross cycling in Hoogerheide The Netherlands on Thursday 02 February 2023 BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS Photo by JASPER JACOBS BELGA MAG Belga via AFP Photo by JASPER JACOBSBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images
Belgian national team members Sven Vanthourenhout, Laurens Sweeck and Joran Wyseure assess the barriers on the Hoogerheide Worlds course (Image credit: JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG AFP via Getty Images)

The course at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, Netherlands was designed by Adrie van der Poel, who last raced competitively in 2000, finishing just off the podium in his final home Worlds in Sint-Michielsgestel. The 1996 elite men’s cyclocross world champion has a total of eight medals in all colours from the world championships, a number that his son, Mathieu van der Poel, surpassed last year with nine medals total (junior, U23 and elites), the last three gold.

The elder Van der Poel is still in the game himself, the designer for the course in Hoogerheide. He designed the last two Worlds courses that were held in the Netherlands - Hoogerheide in 2014 and Valkenberg in 2018, as well as the one in Bieles, Luxembourg in 2017. However, son Mathieu does not have an advantage, since he did not win on any of those other courses. 

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

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).