Like the Netherlands and Belgium, the Swiss Cycling Federation has decided to significantly reduce the size of its team for this month's UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and will be without elite, U23 and junior women riders.

Only seven riders will wear the red and white Swiss uniform at the world championships, led by Kevin Kuhn, ranked 15th in the elite men's UCI ranking, with only four riders in the U23 men's team and one in the junior men's team.

In its announcement, Swiss Cycling described the venue as "located in the sparsely populated northwestern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas," and added, "It will be a relatively long and arduous journey with fewer flights than usual due to the pandemic. Therefore, it is not surprising that many athletes have announced their decision not to participate."

Belgium's Wout Van Aert has opted to miss the World Championships in order to prepare for the road season in Jumbo Visma. Elite men's champion Mathieu van der Pol will not travel to Arkansas with the smaller-than-normal Dutch delegation due to injury.

Switzerland's top women, Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing CX) and rising junior Monique Halter, who won the Swiss junior title this year, have ended their cyclocross season to begin preparing for the mountain bike season.

Neff, who won gold in the women's mountain bike cross-country at the Tokyo Olympics, and national champion Alessandra Keller are training with the national team in South Africa this month.

Neff competed in three races at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in the US last fall, and her fourth place finish in Waterloo was her best finish of the campaign. In the opening round of the Trek Cup, he won the C2-level race on the same course.

Elite Men Kevin Kuhn, Gilles Motiez

U23 Men Dario Lillo, Loris Louie, Jan Sommer, Lars Sommer

Junior Men Jan Kristen [19]