2018 International Cyclocross Rankings

Worst Is Still Best, But Betsema Is On The Rise

Koksijde World Cup plus some local racing in the U.S. and in Belgium this weekend makes for some major movement in the women's rankings. The Koksijde race was—to use an overused word—epic. 

Watching Denise Betsema make up 30 seconds after the second lap to solo to the win? Epic. 

Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado, the U23 racer, looking like she had a shot at the win until the last lap? Epic. 

Katie Compton literally bleeding from her eyeballs to stay in the chase group? Epic. 

There are some serious moves being made thanks to those performances. But we're also taking into account the fact that plenty of racers took this weekend off of racing to get in some solid training hours. 

Ellen Noble is in Georgia and Maghalie Rochette is in Spain. And while racers like Courtenay McFadden are crushing it domestically, the overall placings in races packed with Euro pros as well as domestic racers are definitely important when it comes to cracking the top 25 on the international list.

(Before we dive in, a reminder that the rankings are based on UCI ranking, racing trends this season, and plenty of subjective intel, wild speculation, Instagram Stories and industry gossip.)