CX Course Reviews 2021-2022: Koksijde

On Sunday the Koksijde round of the World Cup took place. Koksijde is a special race, held in and around the sand dunes near the Belgian coast, it is one of the most unique cyclocross venues.

I have to say Koksijde is maybe my favourite course of the entire season, it’s certainly one of my favourites. The terrain is unique, there aren’t any other places with the same geographic cirumstances that I’ve ever seen. True sand races are always a bit special, but this is the most special one of them all. We generally see the lowest tyre pressures of the season here, even in dry conditions.

The most notable feature is of course the sand, the Herygers-dune, named after the 1994 world champion, is the main one, the riders pass it twice, in opposite directions. In total there are 6 main dunes, with some more minor bits of sand in between. Barring 2, the men rode all on a few occasions, but the special nature of Koksijde means that it’s incredibly hard to string great sand sections together, it’s more important to be consistent and string okay sand sections together. It’s very hard to find the balance, and riders often overshoot… Going too hard to make it through the sand on one lap, then falling back because they went over the limit.

That said, was it legal? Yes, basically. No violations that I could see. The only thing I found interesting was the barriers which came loose on lap 1 of the men’s race when a few riders crashed into them. This can happen, of course, but I was surprised to find that a lap later the barriers had been moved way out, to make the corner much easier. I wonder if the organisation did this or if It was the fans course-side. Regardless, outside of this point, I didn’t see anything wrong with the course.

I do have some opinions, though. It’s too hard, that’s the opinion. The point of having Koksijde on the calendar is to have a pure sand race, a race which is decided by surviving the sand sections the best. A few years ago they added what I think is now called the Van Aert-dune which is the first sand the riders hit, a steep wall, Zonhoven-esque, but without the atmosphere. In my opinion this doesn’t add anything to the race. The previous smaller dune which was still rideable if done well was much more interesting. Certainly in combination with the left-turn up the hill at the end of the first Herygers-dune, which another steep run-up, it doesn’t make sense. You don’t need 2 steep sandy run-ups. I’m not convinced you need 1, but we really don’t need 2.

Basically, I think the 2012 World Championships course was perfect, but that may just be nostalgia. Maybe there’s some reason that isn’t possible anymore, but I think getting as close to that as possible would be good. I definitely want the Herygers-dune without the run-up back. That was so much better, because it was fully rideable in the right circumstances. I know I’ve seemed fairly critical, but I’m still a huge fan. It’s just that it could be marginally better.

Conclusion: A truly great venue, a classic, with some points that could be better, which might just be my personal taste.
Rating: 9/10
UCI-rules broken: 0