This weekend, the 9th round of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup will be held in Dublin, with stars such as Wout Van Aert, Tom Pidcock, and Pauline Ferran-Prevot making the trip west.

The Irish capital was covered in snow early Friday morning, but it remains to be seen if the cooler temperatures of the past few days will help firm up the course, which was very soft from the previous week's heavy rains.

The meet will be held at the Sports Ireland campus in Abbotstown, northwest of the city, and the 3 km circuit will incorporate part of the facility's existing cross-country track. [The 3km circuit incorporates a portion of the facility's existing cross-country track. In dry conditions, the hills will not be a major issue, but if the mud is hazardous, as it was earlier in the week, it could change the course of the race.

"A little bit of mud from the rain doesn't make it a runnable race," Flanders Classic course manager Chris Mannaerts insists to Wielerfritz.

"A little bit of mud from the rain won't make it a runnable race," Flanders Classic course manager Chris Mannaerts insisted to Wielerfritz, "but it will make it a runnable race.

Cycling Ireland will host a national race on this course on Saturday afternoon prior to the main event on Sunday. In the women's elite race, World Cup leaders Femme van Empel (Pauwels Sausen Bingoel) and Puck Peterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) are the favourites to win the race so far, and Denise Bessema (Pauwels Sausen Bingoel) will also challenge will be challenging.

Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma) and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin Deceuninck) have been ruled out of going to Ireland, but their absence will be offset somewhat by the participation of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Ineos Grenadiers).

The Frenchwoman returned last weekend after a month out of action and finished 12th in the Superprestige Boom before missing out on a place in the Antwerp World Cup. The race in Dublin may be too early for Ferrand-Prevot to contend for the win, but she will be just as good.

In the elite men's race, Laurence Sweck (Creran Fristads) leads the World Cup standings ahead of Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sausen Bingor), but while the two are battling for points, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo - Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos) are expected to be in contention.

Van Aert, who started his cyclocross season with a second place finish in Antwerp last weekend, will be the favorite to win in Dublin this time around in the absence of his eternal rival Mathieu Van Der Pol (Alpecin-Desseuninck).

However, Pidcock has won two races in the Rainbow Jersey this winter and is likely to be Van Aert's best rival here as well. The Yorkshireman has an Irish agent and his coach, Kurt Bogarts, was formerly Ireland's national road coach.

"Andrew [McQuaid] set up Trinity Racing around me. It was great that they supported me and I have a great connection with Ireland," Pidcock told the Irish Independent (opens in new tab) this week.

"I consider this my home race this year. I'd be happy to win, but Wout is coming, so ...... We'll see what happens."

In the elite men's race, Ireland will be led by national champion Chris Dawson, Dean Harvey, and Darnell Moore. In the elite women's field, national champion Maria Larkin will be joined by the promising Roisin Lally, who made her World Cup debut in Auveraise last month.

The first Dublin round of the Cyclocross World Cup was originally scheduled for October 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic and last winter's race was also taken off the schedule.For the third time, the World Cup is finally coming to Dublin this weekend!

Start

A fan zone has been set up near the start-finish point to recreate the Flanders atmosphere of the Dublin suburbs, but no matter how it plays out, it is sure to be an event unlike any other.

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