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After the traditional World Cup stops at Namur and Heusden-Zolder over the Christmas holiday, the 2016/2017 Telenet UCI Cyclocross World Cup series returns on Sunday at a less traditional venue. Sunday’s race is being held in the Fiuggi Regione Lazio in Italy. Fiuggi is a small town 80km east of Rome in the foothills of the Apennine Mountains.

The Fiuggi World Cup is not the first to be held in Italy. World Cups were held in Rome in 2012 and 2013. The two previous events were hosted by the ASD Romano Scotti amateur sports organization, which is also hosting Sunday’s World Cup event.

Back in 2008, Treviso, Italy hosted the UCI Cyclocross World Championships, with even the now-famous roadie Peter Sagan finishing on the podium and onto our print magazine’s cover.

The race is being held on the grounds of the Fiuggi thermal baths, so hopefully athletes will get a post-race trip to the spa with their entry fees.

Fiuggi World Cup Course Report

Reports on weather and course conditions indicate the Fiuggi World Cup course could be similar to the snowy, icy conditions found in Hartford on Sunday.

And the appropriately-named English UCI race announcer Anthony McCrossan says it will be a technical course:

We will turn it over to Sunday’s bronze medalist Kerry Werner for 140 characters of course preview and strategy:

Rebecca Fahringer reports there may be a lot of running and wet cobbles, the latter of which we did not see much of in Hartford:

While Courtenay McFadden explains the black ice is a big differentiator between Hartford and the Italian course.

Race Preview: Elite Women

For the Women, Marianne Vos will continue her don’t-call-it-a-comeback by taking the start line in Fiuggi next to fellow Dutch rider Sophie de Boer. Sanne Cant, Ellen Van Loy, Laura Verdonschot and relative newbie, Alicia Franck, just completing her first year racing cyclocross, will make up part of the Belgian contingent.

A strong American contingent of Ellen Noble, Elle Anderson, Rebecca Fahringer, and Courtenay McFadden will be making the start. Noble currently leads the Women’s U23 series and will look to continue to hold onto the single red stripe jersey in Italy. Adopted American Katerina Nash and Nikki Brammeier of Great Britain will also be making the start.

Alice Maria Arzuffi and Eva Lechner lead a nine-rider contingent for the host Italians.

Race Preview: Elite Men

On the Men’s side, fans will not be treated the latest edition of the Mathieu van der Poel / Wout van Aert Trofee.

Van Aert will be making the start, but Van der Poel will not. Van der Poel suffered a neck injury in a scary crash at Azencross, but was able to return to the ‘cross course to win the Dutch National Championship on Sunday.

Lars van der Haar will be sporting his new Telenet Fidea Lions kit for the first time at a World Cup, and his fellow Lars, Lars Boom will also be making the start.

For the Americans, Sunday’s bronze medalist Kerry Werner leads a contingent that includes Jeremy Powers, Kevin Bradford-Parish, and Andrew Juiliano.

Canadian Youth Migrate to Italy

In the Men’s U23 race, Canadian Trevor O’Donnell will be making the start. In the Men’s Junior race, Canadians Gunnar Holmgren and Brody Sanderson will be hitting the Fiuggi start line.

How to Watch

The Fiuggi World Cup will be broadcast online on NBC Sports in the U.S. The Women’s race starts at 7:30am EST and the Men’s race at 9am EST. Some folks with a cable subscription should be able to watch at www.nbcsports.com. Others will have to be more creative with browser settings.

English commentary will be provided by Anthony McCrossan. McCrossan usually interacts with fans via Twitter, so we recommend tweeting questions and observations to him at @antmccrossan.

Cyclocross Magazine will be providing results for all races and full race reports for the Women’s and Men’s Elite contests, so stay tuned to right here for race coverage on Sunday.

See the official race website here, and Elite Women’s and Men’s start lists below.

2017 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Start List - Fiuggi, Italy - Elite Women

BibNameTeamNat
2DE BOER SophieNED
3VOS MarianneWM3 PRO CYCLING TEAMNED
4KAPTHEIJNS MaudNED
5BAKKER ManonNED
6DEL CARMEN ALVARADO CeylinNED
7VAN DER HEIJDEN IngeNED
8KASTELIJN YaraWM3 PRO CYCLING TEAMNED
9WORST AnnemarieNED
11NOBLE EllenCOLAVITA/BIANCHIUSA
12ANDERSON ElleELLE ANDERSON RACINGUSA
13FAHRINGER RebeccaAMY DUSA
14McFADDEN CourtenayZONES / AM CLASSICUSA
15CANT SanneBEL
16VAN LOY EllenBEL
17VERSCHUEREN JolienBEL
18SELS LoesBEL
19VANDERBEKEN JoyceBEL
20VERDONSCHOT LauraBEL
21VERHESTRAETEN KarenBEL
22FRANCK AliciaBEL
23BRAMMEIER NikkiBOELS DOLMANS CYCLINGTEAMGBR
24LECHNER EvaLUNA PRO TEAMITA
25ARZUFFI Alice MariaLENSWORLD - KUOTAITA
26TEOCCHI ChiaraBIANCHI COUNTERVAILITA
27CASASOLA SaraITA
28BULLERI AlessiaAROMITALIA VAIANOITA
29BARONI FrancescaITA
30PERSICO SilviaVALCAR PBMITA
31FEDE NicoleITA
33HAVLIKOVA PavlaCZE
34NASH KaterinaLUNA PRO TEAMCZE
35NOSKOVA NikolaCZE
36BAJGEROVA NikolaCZE
37KUKULOVA MartinaCZE
38NUNO PALACIO AidaESP
39GONZALEZ BLANCO LuciaLOINTEKESP
40GONZALEZ BLANCO AliciaLOINTEKESP
41ERLANDSSON Asa-MariaSWE
42MANI CarolineFRA
43MUZIC EvitaFRA
44CLAUZEL HeleneFRA
45PETIT MarleneFRA
46WIEL JadeFRA
47GALAND MainaFRA
48GODART SuzieLUX
49MEDVEDOVA TerezaBEPINK COGEASSLO
50HENZELIN Lise-MarieSUI
51HEIGL NadjaAUS
10 XHOEKE GeerteNED
32 XOBERPARLEITER AnnaITA

2017 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Start List - Fiuggi, Italy - Elite Men

BibNameTeamNat
1VAN AERT WoutVERANDA'S WILLEMS - CRELANBEL
2AERTS ToonTELENET FIDEA LIONSBEL
3PAUWELS KevinMARLUX NAPOLEON GAMESBEL
4SWEECK LaurensERA - CIRCUSBEL
5MEEUSEN TomTELENET FIDEA LIONSBEL
6VANTHOURENHOUT MichaelMARLUX NAPOLEON GAMESBEL
7MERLIER TimVERANDA'S WILLEMS - CRELANBEL
8VERMEERSCH GianniBEL
9AERNOUTS JimTELENET FIDEA LIONSBEL
10SOETE DaanTELENET FIDEA LIONSBEL
11ADAMS JensPAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE CONTINENTAL TEAMBEL
12VANTHOURENHOUT DieterMARLUX NAPOLEON GAMESBEL
13PEETERS RobPAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE CONTINENTAL TEAMBEL
14SWEECK DietherERA - CIRCUSBEL
15VANTORNOUT KlaasMARLUX NAPOLEON GAMESBEL
16BAESTAENS VincentBEL
17VAN KESSEL CorneTELENET FIDEA LIONSNED
18VAN DER HAAR LarsTELENET FIDEA LIONSNED
19VAN DER POEL DavidBEOBANK - CORENDONNED
20GODRIE StanVERANDA'S WILLEMS - CRELANNED
21VAN AMERONGEN ThijsNED
22BOOM LarsTEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBONED
23VAN LEEUWEN PatrickNED
24VENTURINI ClementCOFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITSFRA
25MOUREY FrancisFORTUNEO - VITAL CONCEPTFRA
26CHAINEL SteveFRA
27BOULO MatthieuFRA
28FALENTA AloisFRA
29MEISEN MarcelGER
30WEBER SaschaGER
31WALSLEBEN PhilippBEOBANK - CORENDONGER
32TARAMARCAZ JulienERA - CIRCUSSUI
33WILDHABER MarcelSCOTT-ODLO MTB RACING TEAMSUI
34ZAHNER SimonSUI
35SAEGESSER SeverinSUI
36WINTERBERG LukasSUI
37POWERS JeremyASPIREUSA
38WERNER KerryKONAUSA
39BRADFORD-PARISH KevinUSA
40JUILIANO AndrewROCK LOBSTERUSA
41MCCONNELL MarkCAN
42BOROS MichaelPAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE CONTINENTAL TEAMCZE
43NESVADBA JanEXPRES CZ-MERIDA TEAM KOLINCZE
44HEKELE EmilCZE
45MALIK MichalCZE
46ESTEBAN AGUANDO IsmaelESP
47RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ JavierESP
48SUAREZ FERNANDEZ KevinESP
49HERNANDEZ GUTIERREZ AitorESP
50ANIA GONZALEZ DanielESP
51HARING MartinDUKLA BANSKA BYSTRICASLO
52BRAIDOT LucaITA
53FRANZOI EnricoITA
54SAMPARISI LorenzoITA
55SAMPARISI NicolasITA
56COMINELLI CristianITA
57BRAIDOT DanieleITA
58CAPPONI StefanoITA
59VALDRIGHI StefanoITA