On January 23, 2023, Benidorm will host a Cyclocross World Cup for the first time in history. The organizers have now prepared their course. A circuit of three kilometers spread over two zones: a city park and a forest.
After more than eleven years (December 2011), the Cyclocross World Cup returns to Spain. The cross in Benidorm – January 22, 2023 – will be the penultimate round of the World Cup, which will conclude a week later in Besançon, France. The aim of the organizer Flanders Classics is to allow the riders to combine a possible training internship in Spain with this cross on the Costa Blanca.
Today they presented their course in Benidorm. And no, it won’t be another sand or beach cross. The organizers opted for a course in a city park and a forest, one and a half kilometers from the beach and the center. The local organizer designed the circuit together with a delegation from Flanders Classics and Felipe Orts, the Spanish number one in the field.
From the Parque de Foietes it goes to the forest Parque del Moralet (at the very top of the image), where strength is more important due to some extra climbing. “It will certainly not be a pure climbing cross”, emphasizes Chris Mannaerts of Flanders Classics. “But the difference in height that needs to be worked on will torture legs over time. It will be a really attractive round, including a sandbox and a number of sloping sides.”
Felipe Orts calls the course “demanding”. “On the one hand this course is unique, on the other hand it has everything a modern cyclocross needs. stairs, a sandpit, a beam passage,… There are enough obstacles so that the public will enjoy the competitions.”
Source: Wielerflits.be