Koksijde is one of the biggest name races in Belgium off the back of two World Championships and many years of World Cup racing on a very unique course based mostly around the sand dunes right outside a Belgian air force base. With these year’s move away from the World Cup, does it still hold on to its reputation?
Just like in previous years, the course breaks not a single rule, which should give it a good score, but I find myself getting progressively more annoyed by the modern version of Koksijde. Fundamentally it’s a great venue, but if we look back to the races in the back half of the 2000s we see a bunch of close racing, with sand sections making a difference, but groups often coming back together to create a super exciting final lap.
With the addition of the first run-up in the sand, and the run-up at the end of the previously rideable Herygers-dune the course has almost turned into a running course more than an actual sand course. The biggest differences are made on the uphill running sections, not in the sand sections where riders can stay on the bike with superior sand technique.
A race like that is still a perfectly fine cyclocross race, but I’m not sure the organisation has consciously chosen to make it a course where the strongest rider is able to just drop the others off their wheel halfway through. It seems like the inclusion of ever more difficult obstacles has inadvertently pushed the race in this kind of direction.
If Koksijde has the goal of creating dynamic races with multiple riders fighting for victory until deep into the race, something needs to change. It might feel like regression, but taking out one or both of the steep run-ups should be possible. This would mean riders aren’t on the limit starting all the sand sections, and would mean it’s more difficult to create gaps purely on fitness.
Another option is to totally change the course. This is always a risk, because the current formula feels ingrained in cyclocross’ shared consciousness, but I think there is ample reason to try something different for once. The most recent editions haven’t been very close races, and if this continues for a few more years the race will start to lose status.
How to do it? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s not really possible because of the restrictions of using a military base. The placement of the pits seems like the most pivotal point in a complete redesign. It would be easier to just revert back to the 2012 design.
There aren’t really any specific design choices I can critique or approve of. The design is always pretty good, except that the high level concept has gone too much in the direction of ‘even harder’, and it’s going against the race’s own interests. I think if I continue these reviews I will keep docking a point for every year that the race keeps both long run-ups. Even though it’s still fundamentally good, the run-ups are killing excitement.
Rating: 8/10
UCI-rules broken: 1 (5.1.018 bis)
Update (1 hour after initial post): I forgot a u-turn existed and was inevitably in opposition to the rule. Here’s a screenshot:
Link to last season’s review: https://jensdekkerblog.wordpress.com/2022/09/16/cx-course-reviews-2021-2022-koksijde/
jens dekker 