Preview: World Cup Benidorm 2026 - Del Grosso faces Nys at Costa Blanca
No world champion Mathieu van der Poel in Benidorm, which opens opportunities for the brand-new national champions. We consider it likely that rising stars Thibau Nys and Tibor Del Grosso will once again contest ‘the duel of the future’. For the women, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado will want to do justice to her Dutch jersey against Lucinda Brand. WielerFlits looks ahead.
History
Previous Edition
Course
From 2026, the Benidorm Cyclocross World Cup will feature a partly revamped course. The race is one of the biggest international success stories of the World Cup in terms of popularity and crowd. But the course needed some improvements.
Many riders voiced their opinions after the 2025 edition, when rumors of a possible future World Championship organization surfaced. “It’s a lot of single track,” Eli Iserbyt remarked at the time. “That makes it very hard to pass anywhere. That could cause problems at a World Champs.”
Thibau Nys also expressed his thoughts then: “This course feels like a highway everywhere. The speed is about two kilometers per hour higher than before, and that makes it unpleasant. It’s hard to make a difference, and that also makes it more dangerous. It’s too fast, but it will provide spectacle. I don’t think it’s a World Champs course, but I wouldn’t find it ridiculous either.”
New finish zone
For the next edition, the core of the course will remain in the Foietes city park and the El Moralet forest park. However, the organizers wanted to make the course more challenging.
“There are two changes that will be crucial. One is the new straight section at the start and finish, which will be uphill and will come after a climb,” says organizer Pascual Momparler. This is the strip where Mathieu van der Poel flew past everyone during the 2024 edition.
“The other change is a big surprise: the old finish section will become a sand pit over 100 meters long and 6 meters wide, forcing riders to fight through an ‘extra’ every lap. All added together, the course will be much tougher and offer more excitement.”
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Men
His fellow crossers can breathe a sigh of relief, as world champion Mathieu van der Poel will not be participating after all. When Van der Poel announced his program at the end of November, there was already a question mark behind Benidorm. That was still the case earlier this week. Therefore, the KNWU registered him to keep options open, since official registration closed on Monday. However, Van der Poel will not start in Benidorm, his team Alpecin-Premier Tech confirmed Thursday evening.
Van der Poel is currently leading the World Cup. He holds a ten-point advantage over Thibau Nys in the standings. So there is a chance he will drop in the rankings after Sunday, but next week he will still compete in the last World Cups of the season in Maasmechelen (January 24) and Hoogerheide (January 25). On February 1, Van der Poel’s main goal of the cyclocross season will follow: the World Championships.
This opens opportunities not only for Thibau Nys in the World Cup standings but also for the day victory. By extending his Belgian title in Beringen, the young Nys once again proved what a killer he is. In the Netherlands, the young Tibor Del Grosso did the same. Both love a fast course, and who knows, we might see a rematch of the thrilling battle in Dendermonde where Nys got the better of him.
The closest challengers to Nys and Del Grosso at the national championships, Emiel Verstrynge and Lars van der Haar, will not be in Benidorm. The third-place finishers in those races, Michael Vanthourenhout and Pim Ronhaar, are therefore expected to be the main contenders. Both seem to have regained their form after a difficult Christmas period. For Ronhaar, it was a challenge due to back problems.
It remains to be seen where Joris Nieuwenhuis will start; however, Toon Aerts can handle a fast course well, as we saw when he won the European title in Middelkerke. Niels Vandeputte has even made such courses his specialty. But in Benidorm, the Spanish pride Felipe Orts is the one to watch most closely. This is the most important race of his season.
Women
This may be the first time this season that we do not give the full three stars to Lucinda Brand in a race she competes in. Not that our confidence in the 36-year-old Brand has diminished after a disappointing Dutch Championships. The lightning-fast course in Benidorm simply suits Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado better, who has been the woman in form since the turn of the year.
We still expect Brand to be Alvarado’s biggest challenger. Especially on the (numerous) long asphalt stretches, she can fire up her turbo and hurt the rest. As a road racer, this gives her an advantage. The two need not fear Puck Pieterse, who is still recovering from a crash at the Dutch Championships. Other Dutch contenders are Shirin van Anrooij, returning after illness, Aniek van Alphen, Manon Bakker, and the still very young Leonie Bentveld.
But competition is also coming from abroad. Think of the French winner of the races in Zolder and Gullegem, Amandine Fouquenet. It was quite surprising that she had to give way to the 19-year-old Celia Gery for the French title last week, but Fouquenet remains one of the cornerstones of the cyclocross winter. On this fast course, she should also be able to make her mark.
Hungarian Blanka Vas returned to racing at the Diegem race on December 30. Her Luxembourg teammate Marie Schreiber was even stronger in Diegem (second) than Vas (fourth), and since then we’ve only seen her race in Zonhoven. So they remain a bit of an unknown, but on a good day, they can go far. The same goes for Zoe Bäckstedt.
Weather and TV
As usual, riders can expect sun while racing on the Costa Blanca. Temperatures will rise to a pleasant 14 degrees Celsius by Sunday afternoon. There will be no wind.
