The Benidorm 2026 Cyclocross World Cup Kicks Off

Undoubtedly, it is the major sporting event of the winter not only in Benidorm but throughout the Costa Blanca. Alongside the Benidorm Fest, it serves as a significant tourist boost during the traditionally low season of the Valencian Community's tourist capital. The Cyclocross World Cup will celebrate its fourth edition next January at the El Moralet and Foietes circuit, where renowned names like Mathieu Van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Thibau Nys, and Fem Van Empel have triumphed, and where local idol Felipe Orts has experienced some of his most glorious moments.

A track with its own identity within the dozen races that make up the most important calendar of the winter cycling specialty. A Mediterranean track, very different from the typical ones in Belgium and the Netherlands, and at the same time, distinct from other venues far from these two countries like Dublin, Cabras (cancelled last year due to a storm), Waterloo (United States), or Val di Sole, to name just a few of the most recent 'exotic' destinations.

The circuit, originally designed by Pascual Momparler, Miguel Ángel Ortega, and the entire organisational team, has always remained true to its foundational leitmotif: a semi-urban track that combines a more technical section in Foietes Park and a more forested area in El Moralet, with a focus on speed at the core of its proposal.

A circuit, in any case, that has introduced slight variations each year, arising from the active listening that Momparler and his team have always maintained towards the comments of the event's main protagonists, the cyclists, and those to whom the spectacle is directed, the audience.

The redesign work of the track begins many months before the cold arrives in the city of skyscrapers. In fact, it is now, on the brink of summer, that a delegation from the organising company and Flanders Classics, responsible for the World Cup by delegation of the International Cycling Union (UCI), has already begun its fieldwork for the fourth edition.

The race organisers are currently in Benidorm reviewing the two parks, El Moralet and Foietes. Although they have not wanted to specify any details regarding the changes that may be introduced in 2026, they have admitted that some changes are being prepared, so once again, surprises are expected for the winter showdown.

All this, just three months before next September, if the scheduled deadlines are met, the UCI will announce the name of the city that will host the 2029 World Championship. As reported by the city's mayor, Toni Pérez, alongside Pascual Momparler last January, Benidorm has already submitted its bid.

For now, in fact, the Costa Blanca's tourist capital is the only known bid to take over from Hulst (Netherlands) in 2026, Ostende (Belgium) in 2027, and Hoogerheide (Netherlands) in 2028. If the UCI finally awards the World Championship to Benidorm, it will be the first time the battle for the rainbow jersey returns to Spain since Getxo, which hosted the world championship in 1990. Previously, Tolosa (1981 and 1960), Ordizia (1979, although in this case, only for the Junior category), Amorebieta (1978), Vera de Bidasoa (1974), Beasain (1966), and Oñati (1953) had been world championship venues.