The cyclocross world's attention is increasingly focused on the UCI World Championships on February 3-4. But with several major races on either side of Tabor, including the UCI World Cup finals, there is still much more left to fight for than just the rainbow jersey.

The World Cup gets underway on Sunday in Vogelheide, where men's series leader Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels-Sausen-Bingoel) needs just seven points to reclaim the overall victory he won in 2021-22.

Two years ago, the Belgian won seven races, beating Michael Vanthourenhout by a whopping 128 points. This time he has 317 points and is 34 points ahead of second place Joris Nieuwenhuis.

For a Valoise Trek Lions rider to win the series, Yzerbitt would need to finish 21st (5 points) or lower to earn 40 points. While this scenario is unlikely, Yzerbito is not yet happy.

"Feeling good is dangerous," he told WielerFlits. 'Certainly don't sit around. You must not fall asleep. It is important not to let your guard down."

Another complication for Nieuwenhuis is the presence of Mathieu van der Pol on the start line this Sunday. Defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel has won 10 of his 11 races this winter, three of them by more than a minute.

Nieuwenhuis is second behind van der Pol in the Hulst and Sonnhofen World Cups, but it will take a good effort to overtake him, even though Iserbitt is praying he doesn't finish so low.

"For me, Mathieu joining Hogelheide is a good thing.

"Realistically, the first 40 points are gone.

"Anyway, crashes can always happen quickly. But I have a good feeling and I hope to have a good cross next week.

Iserbitt finished fourth in Benidorm, five seconds ahead of van der Pol.

Van der Pol's race was interrupted by a crash, in addition to the winner, Wout Van Aert, and "Big 3" star Tom Pidcock.

"We had good training this week. It went well at Benidorm. If I hadn't had a puncture, I think I would have been in the lead all the time. But I can't complain."

"I think it cost me 10 or 15 places. The only thing that bothered me was that Yoris was in the group in front of me and Pim Lonhar was a bit further back."

"I was able to get back into the race, but then I had problems with the shifter again. But I had a very good race. I still managed to finish third. It's a shame I lost my footing in the last 100 meters, but overall I think I did good for my ranking."

While the elite men's ranking is still up in the air, the elite women's victory has already been decided, with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin Deceuninck) taking 337 points, 47 points ahead of Pak Pieterse (Phoenix Deceuninck) and into Vogelheide. Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) looks to secure third place by 31 points with 259 points.

The trio of two former world champions and former U23 world champion Pieterse are preparing for the Tabor World Championships as part of a dominant Dutch team that has swept the podium in three of the last four world championships.

Femme van Empel (Visma-Lease A Bike), Annemarie Worst (Cyclocross Reds), Denise Bessema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Inge van der Heyden (Crelan- Corendon) and others will also compete in the Dutch Women's Championships in a week's time.

On the men's side, Iserbitt will team up with teammates Michael Vanthourenhout and Tibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) to take on the Dutch team of Van der Pol, Nieuwenhuys and Ronhal from Belgium.

Cycling News will have full coverage of the Hochelheide World Cup, the X20 Flandrien cross race in Hamme on Saturday, and the World Championships in the Czech Republic.