The biggest event in the sport of cyclocross - the UCI World Championships - have returned once again. This weekend the battle for the rainbow stripes will take place around the town of Hulst, in the Netherlands.

What does the course look like?

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The course at Hulst is a staple on the World Cup circuit, and often features heavy mud, steep uphill pinches and tricky off-cambers.

Those features are all still present in the 2026 World Championships course, but some of the course has been re-routed and some pontoon bridges added over the course’s water features to present a slightly different flavour than riders are accustomed to.

For long-time fans of Australian cyclocross it’s also the site of one of CX’s most famous pre-riding bloopers, courtesy of Aussie Fi Morris.

Check out the handy preview of this weekend’s course, courtesy of Dutch stars Puck Pieterse and Tibor del Grosso.

Who’s racing from Down Under?

This year there are 6 riders from Down Under at the World Championships - four Aussies and two Kiwis!

JUNIOR WOMEN
Alana Fletcher (AUS), Sophie Hiswin (NZ), Alicia Reynolds (AUS)

JUNIOR MEN
Oliver Grande (AUS), Hayden Vimpani (AUS)

ELITE MEN
Jacob Turner (NZ)

When are the races on?

Want to know when the races are on, but can’t be bothered figuring how how to convert the time zones? No need to worry - we’ve done that for you!

An important note: Day 1’s races - the Junior Women, U23 Men and Elite Women - are happening on Saturday in Europe (meaning a Sunday morning finish for some of those Down Under), and Day 2’s races - the Junior Men, the U23 Women and Elite Men - are on Sunday (Monday morning for some of those Down Under).

How to watch

New Zealand

Watching the CX World Championships for those in New Zealand will be dead easy - those in Aotearoa can tune in to the excellent live streams on the UCI’s YouTube page.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@ucichannel/featured

Australia

In previous years watching the CX world championships was easy - all you had to do was tune into the UCI YouTube channel.
Sadly in 2026 that’s no longer the case, and Aussie fans have needed a subscription to Stan Sport - or a VPN - in order to see European cyclocross racing this season.

Stan Sport aren’t good stewards of cycling coverage - if they were they wouldn’t still be displaying information about the road world championships from 2022, or be referring to this week’s world championships as a ‘World Cup’ - but for Aussies they’re the only game in town for the CX World Championships this year.

Watch here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/sport/cycling

World Championship Watch Guide 2026