UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup – Antwerpen

The Scheldecross is a cyclocross race on and around the beach of Sint-Anneke in Antwerp, Belgium, and since 2022 a round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup. The beach lies on the left bank of the Scheldt, just across the river from the city center. It is a December race as a rule: every edition from December 2007 to 2025 was run in that month except the round of November 24, 2024. The lap is known for its long passages of beach sand; on the 2025 course two of them measured about 100 meters.

Where the Scheldecross is raced: the beach of Sint-Anneke

The Scheldecross is raced on and around the Strand van Sint-Anneke, the beach on the Linkeroever, the left bank of the Scheldt in Antwerp. The city center is just across the river. In 2016 the lap was an even mix of three kinds of ground, each kept together: flat straights, deep sand pits with tight 180-degree turns or long runs on foot, and steep climbs and descents linked by tight corners. The sand sections doubled back on themselves, so a chasing group could look close to the leaders and be at least ten seconds behind. The lap lies open beside the river, and after winning in 2024 Fem van Empel said the wind had played an important part.

Why riders look for the water’s edge in the sand

The layout changes. In 2022 the city had rebuilt the old finish area, so the start and finish moved to the promenade dike, in view of the Scheldt. The longest sand strip of that lap ended 50 meters before the finish line. In 2025 they moved again, to the Thonetlaan, and the riders reached the sand after about 400 meters. That lap had two long sand passages of about 100 meters, one early and one halfway round. On the second, riders could keep close to the water’s edge and cover 50 meters on firmer ground.

The short climbs sort the riders as the sand does, into those who ride and those who run. In 2020 Mathieu van der Poel rode up one of them on the second-to-last lap while Eli Iserbyt had to run, and that settled the race.

The grenade that delayed the 2009 start

Sven Nys and Kathy Ingels won the first Scheldecross on January 11, 2006. Niels Albert and Marianne Vos won the second, on January 10, 2007. The third followed on December 21 of that year, and for the years after that it was a December race. That first December it froze on the beach and there was ice in the corners; Radomír Šimůnek of the Czech Republic set the pace from the start and won.

On December 18, 2009, in snow and sub-freezing cold, a dog unearthed a grenade on the beach close to the course, moments before the men’s start at 3 p.m. Some 50 riders spent 45 minutes trying to keep warm while police walled the grenade in with sandbags. The race was shortened to 45 minutes, and Nys won it by 13 seconds from Tom Meeusen. Daphny van den Brand had won the women’s race earlier in the day, 15 seconds ahead of Sanne Cant.

Mathieu van der Poel’s eight wins in Antwerp

Mathieu van der Poel rode his first elite race in the Scheldecross of 2013, as junior world champion, and led it on the fourth lap. Niels Albert, from a team with the same sponsor, rode away alone; Van der Poel passed the two riders chasing him and finished second. Albert said afterwards that he saw him coming closer on the last lap and thought about waiting.

In 2016 Wout van Aert, the previous winner, attacked in the sand with just over a lap to go and took five seconds. Van der Poel and Kevin Pauwels caught him, and on the last lap Van der Poel took a wild line into the deep sand with one foot out, slid past and won by 4 seconds.

The first World Cup round on the beach was raced on December 4, 2022, a year after one was called off over the coronavirus rules. In 2023 Van der Poel’s foot came out of the pedal at the start and he dropped to 25th place. He won by half a minute from Van Aert, one of his eight wins between 2014 and 2025.

Sanne Cant’s four straight wins after six podiums

Sanne Cant finished sixth in the first women’s race in 2006. From 2008 to 2013 she stood on the podium every year, three times second and three times third. Katie Compton of the United States won the last three of those races. “I knew where I had to attack Sanne on the fast parts of the course, because she always had problems there,” Compton said in 2013. Cant won the next four editions, from 2014 to 2017, the first of them by more than a minute and a half.

Fem van Empel won the first three World Cup rounds, from 2022 to 2024. Lucinda Brand had finished second four times, in 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2024. On the last lap in 2025 she dropped Ceylin Alvarado on a sharp little rise, then made two mistakes in a row in the sand and was passed. Alvarado led with 500 meters to go, and Brand won by two seconds.