CX Worlds gallery: Fireworks in France as rainbows reign

by Kit Nicholson Feb 2, 2025 More from Kit Nicholson+

As the dust settles, or the frost thickens, on this World Championships weekend, it would be easy to feel a little disappointed by the outcome. That is, the lack of change in four out of the six individual events.

However, the very fact that certain riders continue to dominate is remarkable for exactly the reason it could be considered boring; these are World Championships after all, why should the best riders of the season and on this course have their victories diminished?

The lesser-known venue of Liévin, France, provided a bright but frosty arena for the 2025 CX World Champs. Located in the north-eastern region of Pas-de-Calais, the small town of Liévin sits near Arras to the south and just 50 km south-west of Roubaix and the Belgian border. It's not commonly associated with cyclocross these days, but some of the weekend's competitors have raced it before; it was a fairly regular fixture on the World Cup calendar until 2012 when Marianne Vos and Zdenek Štybar took the elite titles, while the under-23 men's podium was made up of Lars van der Haar, future road superstar Julian Alaphilippe, and Michael Vanthourenhout. And in the junior men's/boy's race? A young whippersnapper called Mathieu van der Poel took the win four days before his 17th birthday – Wout van Aert was 20th, his worst result of that season by far.

Cut to 13 years later, and we're back for the biggest races of the year. It all kicked off on Friday with the dubiously significant mixed team relay – with its very strict rules as to team composition – won by Great Britain ahead of Italy and France. Overnight, the ground froze solid, leaving rather different conditions on Saturday compared to the recce the day before. The riders were undeterred though, likewise the massive crowds, as the junior women got the individual racing underway.

Here's a snapshot of the weekend's winners:

Team relay: Great Britain (Zoe Backstedt (WU), Darlison Milo Wills (MJ), Maia Zoe Roche (WJ), Oscar Amey (MJ), Cat Ferguson (WU) and Thomas Mein (ME))
Junior women: Lise Revol (France)
Under-23 men: Tibor Del Grosso (Netherlands)
Elite women: Fem van Empel (Netherlands)
Junior men: Mattia Agostinacchio (Italy)
Under-23 women: Zoe Backstedt (Great Britain)
Elite men: Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)

This gallery really is the last one of the season, so enjoy the following brilliant shots from Cor Vos and Kristof Ramon for one last time before we hit the road.

France gave the championships a warm welcome.

There was a lot of pressure on the French contingent racing on their frozen home soil, and Lise Revol was more than up to the challenge in the junior women's event.

It wasn't as simple as riding clear from the start, though, with Czechia's Barbora Bukovská bridging up at around the halfway point before riding away from her rival.

However, a devastating miscalculation for Bukovská led her to celebrate a lap too soon, only to have to click straight back into gear and fight desperately to maintain her lead.

The damage was done though, and Revol was soon back on terms, before riding away in the last few corners before the finish.

The celebrations were particularly joyful for the whole French team, 12 months after compatriot Célia Gery took the same title in Tabor.

The under-23 men took to the field next, with reigning champ Tibor Del Grosso the nailed-on favourite.

The course never really thawed out despite the near-cloudless conditions ...

... but neither riders nor fans were deterred.

Remember this face. It already belongs to the elite Dutch national champion having fended off some of the world's best 'crossers earlier this season. He had the option to race Worlds as an elite this year, but the 21-year-old opted for a good chance of victory over a better chance of missing out.

Jente Michels is a name for the future too, almost as consistent as his trade teammate Del Grosso this season.

Kay De Bruyckere had a brilliant race, chasing back up and over Michels to take the silver medal from his fellow Belgian.

Yup. You got that right, Tibor!

The grand finale on Saturday was the women's race, where Fem van Empel was hoping to defend her back-to-back '23 and '24 titles, but she'd have stiff competition.

Not leaving anything to chance, Van Empel flew from the start like there was fire at her tail, and it took less than two laps for the all-Dutch podium to be all but decided: Van Empel, Puck Pieterse, and Lucinda Brand had flown the coop.

Blanka Vas (Hungary) looked to be best of the rest, but despite leaving behind Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Vas would be overcome by a fourth oranje jersey as Inge van der Heijden came from behind and finished strong.

For lap after lap they traded blows.

Just as soon as one began to find daylight, the others would dig in and tag back onto the wheel. No one could afford any mistakes.

Pieterse was the first to begin to dangle in the third lap. She caught back on at the start of the fourth, but her days were numbered, and she fell away by the end of the lap.

Out front, Van Empel and Brand swapped turns pacing or attacking off the front. It was hard to tell for sure, but Van Empel looked perhaps a smidge fresher and more fluid than her legendary compatriot.

Lucinda Brand smelled blood, and a huge opportunity to regain the world title she'd won once before in 2021.

Brand couldn't let it come down to another two-up sprint based on past experience this season, but Van Empel proved impossible to dislodge.

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Brand seemed almost as unshakeable, and that led to, in the minds of Brand and trade team boss Sven Nys, an unfair tactical move from Van Empel in one of the very last technical sections of the race, closing the door on her compatriot to prevent her from moving up. Brand was still fuming after the finish, telling Sporza, "I’m just really grumpy at the moment. It was a really nice race and we were really evenly matched, but everyone knows that Fem would normally have been stronger than me on the last stretch. I don’t know what to think about driving someone into the fences."

Brand literally shook it off, but it was advantage Van Empel.

The 22-year-old was that little bit fresher, and the writing was on the wall as they closed in on the finishing straight, Van Empel lifting out of the pedals with a deadly acceleration as Brand was delayed on the last biting ramp, then hung her head and soft-pedalled up to the line.

Both were shells as they crossed the line, for rather different reasons. Negative tactics aside, it was quite a duel, and a fitting finale to the season among two of the starring protagonists.

Three-time world champion Sanne Cant continued her farewell season with ninth. Her final bow is expected to take place at the Sluitingsprijs in Oostmalle on 23 February, the last typically meaningful fixture of the CX season.

Three in a row for Van Empel, and an all-Dutch podium – plus Inge van der Heijden making it top four.

17-year-old Italian Mattia Agostinacchio capped off what has been a damn good season – including wins at Namur, and World Cup rounds in Benidorm and Zonhoven – with the junior world title, making it the second year in a row for Italian junior men.

The Italian's season-long rival Soren Bruyère Joumard gave him a run for his money, but had to settle for second. The young Frenchman does however come away from his first Junior season with two World Cup wins and the overall series title.

16-year-old Belgian Giel Lejeune (yes, 'The Young') took victory at World Cup Hulst, but could only manage 13th on the wearing course.

The under-23 women were next to take on the frosty French course, and Zoe Backstedt was the overwhelming favourite to defend her 2024 title.

Léonie Bentveld (Netherlands) was on great form ...

... but no one could stop Backstedt.

The young Welsh rider seemed to enjoy her race.

Marie Schreiber came closer than in 2024 when she finished fourth, but the Luxembourger could do no better than second.

Backstedt roared to victory by a sturdy 39 seconds, successfully defending the under-23 title while still just 20 years of age.

French rider Célia Gery made good on the potential indicated by a junior world title by riding to fourth in her first year as an under-23 rider, giving the huge home crowds something to celebrate.

Backstedt, Schreiber and Bentveld all smiles on the podium.

The elite men closed the weekend in front of fantastic crowds.

Hottest of hot favourites Mathieu van der Poel was surrounded by Belgian jerseys on the start line.

It took no time at all for the reigning world champion to break free.

Laurens Sweeck was first in the chase as the field stretched throughout the first lap, the Belgian second across the line 20 seconds after Van der Poel.

Felipe Orts was the lone rider to hail from outside the Benelux countries towards the front of the race.

World Cup series winner Michael Vanthourenhout was among the top Belgians to form an elite chase group behind Van der Poel.

Emiel Verstrynge and Laurens Sweeck joined Vanthourenhout and Thibau Nys ...

... with Joris Nieuwenhuis the lone Dutch rider in the five-rider chase group.

Wout van Aert had meanwhile had a desperate chase on his hands. As a result of his limited CX schedule, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider was stuck with a fourth-row start, and he was further held up by the traffic early in the first lap.

Van Aert needed luck on his side if he was to have any hope of entering the longed-for duel with Van der Poel, but he experienced the opposite in the first half lap. While trying to move up the outside of the still compact bunch, Van Aert suddenly found the way ahead blocked and he was forced into the fence – hence the ripped shorts – and suddenly he was way back in 37th place.

Van der Poel was free just to crack on, picking his own lines, and gradually building his lead – all while wearing a staggeringly expensive Richard Mille watch apparently worth a handsome (sickening) 300,000 euros ...

Despite the challenge of the chase, Van Aert was able to connect with the chase group at the start of lap three, linking up with his four national teammates and Dutchman Nieuwenhuis who rode at a deficit of 45 seconds to the lone leader.

The Belgians in the group tried to work to trim Van der Poel's lead, but they could only chip a few seconds off the gap before it grew again – and it later transpired that the leader had been slowed by a puncture in the third lap.

Felipe Orts dropped out of the group before Van Aert's arrival and ultimately finished 12th, though still the best finisher who didn't have a Dutch or Belgian passport.

Thibau Nys had had a question mark over his name in the build-up to the World Champs after illness scuppered the last weekend of the World Cup, but he was clearly back on form in Liévin. While he'd hinted at some reluctance to race for anyone but himself prior to the event – i.e. for Van Aert – Nys appeared to be on song as the race unfolded: when Van Aert made his acceleration from mid-group at the end of lap three, Nys did not move from the foremost position until Nieuwenhuis made his own response, and Nys leapt into action to mark the Dutch threat.

Van Aert didn't escape the group on his first attack, but he broke the elastic in lap five of eight, finally leaving behind Joris Nieuwenhuis.

The Belgian did manage to trim some time out of Van der Poel's advantage, but only in the last two laps, bringing it back below the 61 seconds established by the end of the sixth.

"MVDP, The Goat" is not far off.

Seven elite cyclocross titles put Van der Poel equal with record holder Erik de Vlaeminck. Only Marianne Vos has more elite CX titles than her younger compatriot.

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All things considered, it was a pretty remarkable ride from Van Aert, who had nothing but respect for his arch-nemesis at the finish: "Chapeau."

Thibau Nys was delighted to land on the podium after overhauling Nieuwenhuis on the penultimate lap. It was a first elite Worlds podium for the 22-year-old European and Belgian champion who this season has staked a claim for inclusion in a 'Big Three' alongside Van der Poel and Van Aert.