Cyclo-cross is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter, and consist of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and remount. Races for senior categories are generally between 40 minutes and an hour long, with the distance varying depending on the ground conditions. The sport is strongest in the traditional road cycling countries such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Maria Wilhelmina Johanna "Mirjam" Melchers-Van Poppel is a female former racing cyclist from the Netherlands, married to former sprinter Jean-Paul van Poppel. She was one of the leading cyclists in the world, having held the UCI number one ranking as well as winning highly rated races. She was a one-day specialist but has managed smaller stage races.
Thomas Frischknecht is a former Swiss mountain bike and cyclo-cross racer, often called Europe's Elder Statesman of mountain biking, because of his extraordinarily long career at the top level of the sport. A professional since 1990, he was on top of the Mountain Bike World Championship podium for the first time in 1996 and most recently in 2004.
Hanka Kupfernagel is a retired German professional cycle racer. During most of her career her primary focus was cyclo-cross racing, however, she has also won major road, track and mountain bike races. She has won seven consecutive medals at the UCI Women's Cyclo-cross World Championships, including three gold medals for 2000, 2001 and 2005; two silver medals in 2002 and 2003; and the bronze medal in 2004. Her major career victories also include a gold medal in the individual time trial competition at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart and a silver medal in the road race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
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.
Richard Marinus Anthonius Groenendaal is a Dutch former professional cyclo-cross cyclist. Groenendaal won the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in 2000 and the overall titles in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup 1997–1998, 2000–2001 and 2003–2004 and in the Cyclo-cross Superprestige in 1997–1998 and 2000–2001.
Rolf Wolfshohl is a former professional road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross racing cyclist from Germany. Wolfshohl is best known in cyclo-cross for winning the world championship three times, and in road racing for winning the 1965 Vuelta a España. He won the German National Road Race in 1968.
Marianne Vos is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Team Visma–Lease a Bike.
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships are the world championships for cyclo-cross organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Starting in 2020, six events are organized each year – men's elite, women's elite, men's under 23, women's under 23, men's under 18, and women's under 18. Traditionally, the elite events are held on a Sunday with the other events held on the Saturday the day before.
Laurence Leboucher is a French professional cross-country mountain bike and cyclo-cross racer. She is a three-time Olympian and two-time world cyclo-cross champion.
Daphny van den Brand, is a Dutch cyclo-cross, road bicycle and mountain bike racer.
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.
Radomír Šimůnek Jr. is a Czech racing cyclist, who competes for the KwadrO-Stannah team. Born in Plzeň, Šimůnek participates mainly in cyclo-cross and has won a silver medal at the Junior and under-23 World Championships. His father, also named Radomír, was also a cyclo-cross racer.
Liv Racing TeqFind was a women's professional cycling team, based in the Netherlands. The title sponsor is Liv, a sub-brand of Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer Giant Bicycles. The team's directeur sportif is Eric van den Boom. Riders for Liv Racing compete in the UCI Women's World Tour and other Elite Women's Cycling events throughout the world.
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.
Baloise–Trek Lions is a Belgian professional cycling team based in Belgium which focuses predominantly on the cyclo-cross season. The team is named after its main sponsors, Bâloise and Trek. The team had various different names in the past amongst which Spaar-Select and Telenet-Fidea.
Alpecin–Deceuninck is a UCI WorldTeam cycling team that is based in Belgium. It competes both in the road and cyclo-cross seasons. The leaders of the team have in the past been cyclo-cross world champion Niels Albert, Philipp Walsleben and Radomír Šimůnek. The team's current lead rider is the cyclocross and road world champion and multiple monuments winner Mathieu van der Poel.
Daniele Pontoni is a former Italian professional cyclo-cross cyclist. Pontoni was World Champion of cyclo-cross by the amateurs in 1992 and by the elite in 1997. He was Italian cyclo-cross champion from 1996 to 2004. He also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is a season-long competition in cyclo-cross, organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). First held in the 1993–1994 season, there are currently five awards, tailored to the different categories of riders: Men Elite, Women Elite, Men Under 23, Women Under 23, and Men Junior.
Sabrina Stultiens is a Dutch road and cyclo-cross racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Liv Racing TeqFind.
Hanka Kupfernagel (GER)
Marianne Vos (NED)(8 wins)
