Fears have been raised that a section of the 2026 World Cyclocross Championships course is ‘dangerous’ after Cat Ferguson crashed out and was taken to hospital.
Saturday’s World Cup round at Hulst used around 60% of the 2026 championships course and provided two dramatic events.
The course on the Dutch-Belgian border is expected to attract a large crowd due to its position and the chance that Mathieu van der Poel could break tie Roger De Vlaeminck’s record of seven world titles.
The World Cup threw up surprise winners as Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team) and Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) led their respective races from start to finish.
Schreiber had problems herself and was forced to run the treacherous downhill section, while others crashed behind.
Road junior world champion Ferguson came off worst of the many fallers and was taken to hospital after crashing heavily.
Her Moviestar Team posted on social media that “Cat Ferguson suffered a heavy fall on the 2nd lap of the cyclo-cross World Cup event held in Hulst (Netherlands). She was taken to the hospital for medical examination.”
Overall elite men’s leader Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) also came down heavily twice on the same descent in consecutive laps and went on to finish seventh.
Former two-time European Champion and 10-time British champion, Helen Wyman, questioned the safety of the section in the wet.
Speaking on Eurosport she said, “Sometimes we have discussions about whether a descent like that should be in a cyclocross World Cup.
“A cyclocross course is made in a way that it’s suitable for all weathers. You do have the option to run, it might sound controversial but if it’s that dangerous then you can run.
“Equally should a descent that you have to run be in a World Cup course? Is it dangerous? Yes it can be.
“You can run then you take yourself out of danger. There are some courses where you can’t run them and then it makes the sport look ridiculous.”
Organiser Kurt Vernimmen said that the course would change from Saturday’s World Cup round to accommodate more spectators for the 2026 World Championships.
"The World Cup course will be 60% similar to that of next Saturday's World Cup race, and the remaining 40% will be completely new,” he told Wielerflits.
“Fortunately, the municipality of Hulst has bought a new piece of land of seven hectares on the other side of the water.
“At a World Cup you have to be able to organize for 50,000 people, and then we were really too limited with the current course. Those 22,000 spectators last year was the maximum we can do.
“We now have a VIP tent for 1,100 people, but with a World Championship, you still have to be able to receive 4,500 VIPs. This new terrain allows us to create space."
Van der Poel has won in Hulst six times, but last season a fan spat at the cyclocross star and others booed.
Vernimmen said that in response to the incident, there are extra security and stewards.
However, Van der Poel has decided against starting his ‘cross season on home ground at the Dutch course and instead begins at Zonhoven the following day.
"We reached out to his management ourselves,” Vernimmen told Idlprocycling.
“We hope it has nothing to do with last year’s incident. We would do everything to prevent that from happening again.
“Mathieu has won here six times, and we’ve always had a good relationship with him. He even met his girlfriend here, so we were kind of disappointed that he won’t start here. But there must be a reason for it.
“That was an unfortunate coincidence that we couldn’t control. We distanced ourselves from it and stood up for the riders. It must have been for other reasons.
"If he (Van der Poel) becomes world champion in Liévin, he will tie Roger De Vlaeminck’s record, and then he could win his eighth title in Hulst, making him the sole record holder."
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