The course for the Belgian national cyclocross has been shortened due to excessive mud, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. The Hooglede-Gits circuit was to be identical to that used in the 2007 World championships, with the addition of an extra loop, added to help spread out the expected high numbers of spectators.
A cornfield adjacent to the course was sown with grass in preparation for the event, and would have added a climb of around 100 metres, with a descent of around the same length. Unfortunately, heavy rain overnight on Friday has made the entire course even muddier, making the full circuit too difficult, which has meant this extra part has been removed.
"The additional loop is too difficult and the total length too long with a distance of 3.3 km," said course inspector Eddy Lissens, “so it will be removed from the course on Sunday.”
With the new loop removed the course will revert to that of the 2007 World championships.
The overwhelming favourite for the title is seven-time champion Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), who aims to take back the jersey that almost seemed to belong to him from rival Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus). Nys is the absolute master of muddy courses, and so the shortening of what would likely have been one of the sloppiest of the season so far has not impressed the Kannibaal.
“The changed course is to my disadvantage,” he wrote on Twitter. “I had expected nothing else.”
Whether the race organisers’ decision was deliberately motivated to make things less easy for Nys to win – which is unlikely – the Kannibaal will still be tough to beat on the shortened course. His two big rivals on the day would ordinarily be World Cup leader Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) and Albert; the former goes far better on faster courses, and has declared a dislike of the kind of mud expected, while Albert has only just recovered from the beginnings of pneumonia.