Cyclo-cross - also referred to as cyclocross, CX, or cyclo-X - is a racing discipline in cycling. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter months to ensure the terrain is tough, muddy, or even snowy to make the competition even harder.
Cyclo-cross races consist of many laps of a short (2.5-3.5 km) course on varying surfaces including concrete or tarmac, wooded trails, mud, grass, sharp inclines, and other obstacles. The obstacles require the rider to dismount and carry their bike to get over the obstruction and then they remount. The sport is very popular in traditional road cycling countries such as Belgium, France, and the Netherlands with many road cyclists having spent some of their career as a cyclo-cross rider.
The origins of cyclo-cross are much debated with some saying it comes from European road racers in the early 1900s racing to the next town and cutting through fields, thus clearing obstacles by any means necessary. Frenchman Daniel Gousseau is credited as having inspired the first cyclo-cross races and organised the first French National Championship in 1902. However, it was not until the 1940s that the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) began considering the sport and the first Cyclo-Cross World Championship was held in 1950 in Paris.
Format & Scoring
Cyclo-cross is similar mountain bike racing and cross-country cycling though on a shorter course with laps and cyclo-cross riders are allowed to get off their bikes. Many of the best cyclo-cross riders compete in other cycling disciplines such as road and endurance track cycling. The bicycles are lightweight like road bikes so that competitors can carry them, but they also share characteristics with mountain bicycles in that they use thick tread tires for grip. Compared with other forms of cycling, the tactics are fairly straightforward with an emphasis on the rider's skills in endurance and bike-handling. A cyclo-cross rider is allowed to change bicycles and receive mechanical assistance during a race. While the rider is on the course on one bike, their pit crew can clean up, repair, and oil a spare.
