Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Ben Berden |
Born | Hasselt, Belgium | 29 September 1975
Team information | |
Current team | Raleigh Clement |
Discipline | Cyclo-Cross |
Role | Rider |
Professional teams | |
1999 | Palmans-Ideal |
2000–2003 | Vlaanderen 2002 |
2012– | Raleigh-Clement |
Ben Berden (born 29 September 1975 in Hasselt) is a Belgian professional racing cyclist specializing in cyclocross. Berden was caught for doping in January 2005, immediately admitted to it, and was ultimately banned from the sport for 15 months.
Sven Nys is a former professional cyclist competing in cyclo-cross and mountain bike. With two world championships, seven world cups, and over 140 competitive victories, he is considered one of the best cyclo-cross racers of his generation, and remains a prominent figure in cyclo-cross. Apart from cyclo-cross, Nys is also fivefold national mountainbike champion, and has competed in that discipline in two Olympic games.
Bart Wellens is a Belgian former professional cyclo-cross and road cyclist. He now works as the team manager of UCI Cyclo-cross Team 777.
Katie Compton is an American former bicycle racer. She specialized in cyclo-cross racing and is a 15-time national champion. Compton formerly piloted a tandem with a blind partner in Paralympic events.
Erwin Vervecken is a Belgian former professional cyclist specialising in cyclo-cross. Vervecken was professional cyclist for 16 seasons (1995–2010) and works since his retirement as an external sportive consultant for sportmarketing company Golazo where he helps organize cyclocross and mountainbike races and does the coordination of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series.
Niels Albert is a former professional cyclo-cross racing cyclist who currently resides in Tremelo. He became World Champion twice, in 2009 and 2012.
Mario De Clercq is a Belgian former racing cyclist. He specialized in cyclo-cross racing but also rode on the road and circuit races during his career, he raced as a professional between 1991 and 2004. The majority of his years as a professional were under the sponsorship of Palmans–Boghemans and its various co-sponsors.
Kevin Pauwels is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2019 for the Fidea and Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal teams. Pauwels retired on 24 February 2019 after winning the Sluitingsprijs Oostmalle.
Sven Vanthourenhout is a Belgian cycling coach and former professional racing cyclist, primarily riding cyclo-cross. Since 2017, Vanthourenhout has been the coach of the Belgian national cyclo-cross team, and in 2020 became the coach of the national road cycling team as well.
Lars van der Haar is a Dutch professional cyclo-cross and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Baloise–Trek Lions.
Gianni Vermeersch is a Belgian professional cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck in road racing, cyclo-cross and gravel cycling. In 2022, Vermeersch became the inaugural winner of the men's race at the UCI Gravel World Championships.
Michael Vanthourenhout is a Belgian cyclo-cross and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal. He represented his nation in the men's elite event at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder.
Maud Kaptheijns is a Dutch cyclist, who primarily competes in the cyclo-cross discipline of the sport. She won the gold medal in the under-23 event at the 2015 UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships after eventual winner Femke Van den Driessche was disqualified. She also won the bronze medal in the women's under-23 event at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder. Kaptheijns took her first UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup race win when she took victory in Duinencross Koksijde in October 2017.
Eli Iserbyt is a Belgian cyclo-cross and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal. As a junior, he won the silver medal at the 2015 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. He won the gold medal in the men's under-23 event at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder and took another gold in the under-23 race at the 2017 UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships in Tábor. In 2018 he won another gold medal in the men's under-23 event at the World Championships in Valkenburg.
Quinten Hermans is a Belgian road and cyclo-cross cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck.
Jens Dekker is a Dutch cyclo-cross cyclist, who last rode for UCI Continental team Corendon–Circus. He won the gold medal in the men's junior event at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder.
Toon Aerts is a Belgian professional cyclo-cross and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Cyclo-cross team Team Deschacht–Group Hens–Containers Maes. Aerts is a two-time winner of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup standings, and also won the men's elite race at the 2016 European Championships and the 2019 Belgian National Championships. His brother Thijs is also a professional cyclist.
Thibau Nys is a Belgian cyclo-cross and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek on the road and for UCI Cyclo-cross team Baloise–Trek Lions in cyclo-cross. Nys is the son of Sven Nys, one of the most successful cyclo-cross riders of all time.
Fem van Empel is a Dutch professional racing cyclist. In January 2021, she won the women's under-23 race at the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. During the 2022–2023 season she won the women's elite race at the World Championships and the European Cyclo-cross Championships. On 22 January 2023, she secured overall victory at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (2022–23). On 16 Feb 2023 at Brussels, Fem clinched the X20 Badkamers Trophy. The previous week, her first race in the World Champions jersey, competing in the X20 Badkamers at Lille she finished 1st doing a "Pidcock" across the finish line. In the cyclo cross season 2023 to 2024 Fem Van Empel was first in her first eleven races. Having finished the previous season with five successive firsts, it brought her run of first places in top level Cyclocross to sixteen. Fem Van Empel retained her UCI World Championship at Tábor on 3 February 2024. One respected commentator noted he had "run out of superlatives to describe Fems phenomenal talent", calling her "The Golden Girl of Cyclocross". Another described her performance as " pretty much perfection" . "Velo" noted that "her 18th victory out of what has been a 20-race season" is "a staggering success rate " .Fem completed her 2023 to 2024 season with a win to take the X²O Badkamers Trophy at Lille on 11 Feb. This took her number of wins for the season to 19 from 21 races. At the end of season 2023 to 2024 Fems' career total number of Elite level Cyclo-cross race wins was 37.