UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup – Koksijde

The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup round in Koksijde, Belgium, is the Duinencross, a cyclocross race through the dunes of the North Sea coast that was first held in 1969. The lap, 3,500 meters long in December 2025, runs along the edge of the Koksijde air base and over the Herygersduin and the Albertduin, dunes with names of their own. The date has moved over the years between late November, the days before Christmas and the first week of January. The same dunes held the world championships in 1994 and 2012.

How deep is the sand in Koksijde?

Koksijde sits at the southwest corner of Belgium’s North Sea coast, and belts of dunes run through the town. The Duinencross, the dune race, has been run through them since 1969, on a course along the edge of the Koksijde air base. The sea is close and wind is almost a given: on November 20, 2016, gusts of more than 50 miles per hour hit the dunes and every race of the day was called off.

At the 2012 World Championships officials put the sand at up to eight inches deep in places, about 20 centimeters. Depth is only part of the difficulty. In the days before that race the straight sections packed into narrow grooves that could be ridden, while the turns stayed loose. A rider who drifts out of the groove loses speed and often has to get off and run. The American Ryan Trebon compared it to golf afterward: the swing that finds the fairway on one lap lands in the rough on the next.

The lap measured 3,500 meters when the World Cup round was held in December 2025, and the finish was back on the Robert Vandammestraat. Among the dunes it crosses are the Herygersduin and the Albertduin.

Herygers in 1994, Albert in 2012: the world titles won in Koksijde

Paul Herygers and Niels Albert, both Belgians, are the two men who won the elite world title on this course. On January 30, 1994, Herygers beat the Dutchman Richard Groenendaal by eight seconds. On the way he gave Groenendaal a provocative pat on the shoulder, one of the best-known images in the history of cyclocross, and 25 years later Groenendaal gave it back to him.

The championships came back on January 29, 2012, and more than 60,000 people stood along the course. Albert took the lead just after the start, and with eight laps still to go he was clear of everyone. “When you are riding alone, you can choose your own road in the sand, which was very good for me,” he said. Behind him the Belgian team filled every place down to seventh, with Sven Nys the last of the seven. Marianne Vos won the women’s title on the same day, 37 seconds ahead of Daphny van den Brand.

Sven Nys’s seven wins in the Duinencross

Roger De Vlaeminck won the first edition on December 27, 1969, and his brother Eric won the next two. By December 22, 1996, the race counted for the World Cup, and Adrie van der Poel won that day.

Nys first won in 1999 and took his seventh on November 22, 2015. He was 39 and in his last season, and it was his 50th World Cup win. Wout van Aert, 21, attacked going into the last lap, and Nys had to dismount on a short, steep section. Nys caught and passed him, was passed again before the finish, then came out of the woods behind Van Aert, drew level on the right and turned onto the pavement first. He won by four seconds.

Mathieu van der Poel, third that day, won in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and again in January 2024 and December 2025.

Lucinda Brand’s first win in the dunes, after five podiums

The list of women’s winners starts in 2003 with Hanka Kupfernagel, and Katie Compton of the United States won four times between 2008 and 2013, more often than any other woman.

Lucinda Brand had stood on the podium here five times without winning. In the race of January 3, 2025, she was second, 19 seconds behind Puck Pieterse. On December 21 of that year, at 36, she pulled the field apart on the opening lap. She kept riding through sand where the others had to get off, and her lead over her teammate Shirin van Anrooij grew from 24 seconds to 30 and was 36 at the finish. Sand is not her natural ground, Brand said afterward, which made this race the bigger challenge. Paul Herygers, the world champion of 1994, said he had never seen her ride so well in it.

When did Koksijde return to the World Cup?

The World Cup returned to Koksijde on December 21, 2025, after three winters in which the Duinencross was a round of the X2O Badkamers Trofee, raced in the first days of January.

In 2020 the town canceled its World Cup round: without spectators, mayor Marc Vanden Bussche said, it would have cost 250,000 euros against a budget of 100,000. The World Cup was back on November 21, 2021, when Eli Iserbyt won, and then Koksijde announced that it would not take part in the 2022-23 series. Wout van Aert won the first of the January races, on January 5, 2023, by 1 minute 38 seconds from Mathieu van der Poel, and Laurens Sweeck won the last, on January 3, 2025. On the day the World Cup came back, Van der Poel went clear halfway through the race and won by seven seconds from Sweeck.