It may be American Clara Honsinger who will once again break the Dutch stronghold on the elite women's podium at this weekend's cyclocross world championships in Ostend, fourth in the UCI World Cup standings and sixth in the UCI elite women's overall ranking.

The 24-year-old, who has two podium finishes in World Cup races this season, said that performance-wise she is "a bit of an unknown quantity" but will not creep into the Dutch competition, which includes last year's podium finisher, world champion and overall favorite Seirin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin Phoenix), silver medalist Annemarie Worst (777), bronze medalist Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions), and Denise Betsema, currently fourth in the UCI rankings ( Pauwels Sausen Bingor) included.

"Coming into this race, I feel a bit of an unknown as to how well I can perform. I think I'm running at the same level as the guys around me and I feel really good about it. I'm just happy to be here," he said on the podcast "In the Red with Curtis White. White is a teammate of the Cannondale Cyclocross World Pro Cycling Team.

Honsinger is one of six U.S. riders competing in this weekend's World Championships, and the elite women's race includes four-time World Championship podium finisher Katie Compton (KFC Racing p/b TREK/Knight Composite), Rebecca Furlinger ( Kona Maxxis Shimano), and teammate Katie Keogh, will join an all-star cast, with the only female rider under 23 being last year's junior bronze medalist Madigan Munroe, while White will compete in the elite men's race.

All North American UCI races were cancelled this season due to the coronavirus outbreak, so a small number of riders from the US and Canada traveled to Europe to race in November. Due to the ongoing health crisis, the number of World Cup events was reduced from 14 to 5.

"It's an incredible feeling," said one athlete. I did not compete in the Czech World Cup (November 29). I was too concerned about travel and exposure," said Honsinger, who raced six races and won a silver medal in his first World Cup appearance in Namur in mid-December.

"The late start to the World Cup set me back, and there was a lot of pressure to find the right moment to move up in the overall standings if I wanted to go into the final race in fifth place."

"I was too worried about moving up in the overall standings.

Despite the spectacular weather conditions in Dendermonde, she took her second silver medal and skyrocketed up the rankings. In the last two World Cups, Honsinger finished sixth in Namur and fourth in Aubaisse.

"It's very big for me. I remember last year I had two 6th places in Namur and Nomey and felt like 'I'm in the top 10 in the European World Cup. Honestly, going into this season, it would have been great to have more top-10 finishes, but to get two podiums and fourth overall is really satisfying."

Missing the World Cup in Tabor may have prevented Honsinger from topping the overall podium, but he has no regrets.

"One more race would have been exciting, but mostly I am just really happy that we are all safe and healthy. That is the priority here. The race result doesn't even compare to that."

"I'm really happy that we're all safe, healthy, and happy here.

Most races this season have had little or no sand, and last weekend's Gilbermere Cross was the main course acclimatization for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. Ostend has 565 meters of sand, including beaches on the North Sea.

"There have been very few sand races this season and this weekend is like a wild card. No one knows right now who has good sand technique," said Honsinger. 'Who's in good shape physically, who can bike through the mud, who can get through the ruts, who can run 100 meters in the sand? Whether sand will be a big factor."

Since part of the course is along the coast, depending on the tide, it may not be that big of a deal.

"It's hard to guess what the course will be like, so I want to go there and check out the course and run it in my head. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

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