Overnight snow and rain conditions worsened Sunday's World Cup cyclocross in Dublin, Ireland, with alternating deep mud and icy compact sectors, as Femme van Empel and Puck Peterseth in the women's race, Tom Pidcock in the men's race and Wout Van Aert will take on cyclo-cross specialists.

More than 5,000 spectators are expected to watch the races as the cyclocross World Cup continues to expand beyond its traditional centers in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Snow fell on the 3km course on the Sport Ireland campus in Abbotstown on Thursday night, with freezing fog keeping temperatures at or near freezing.

Similar conditions are expected for Sunday afternoon's race, but due to racing and training on the course, some sections of the racing line are waterlogged and very muddy.

Cycling Ireland released a video on social media of a particularly wet and muddy sector after a national race was held on the course. Freezing temperatures may harden parts of the course, but that won't stop the race from becoming a battle for survival.

Inclement weather made travel to Dublin difficult for some competitors. 143 flights to and from the Irish capital were canceled on Friday, and another 50 were canceled on Saturday; according to Het Laatste Nieuws, Laurence Sułek's flight from Brussels was delayed, and Pauwels Sausen Bingall's teammates Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout were further delayed as they attempted to fly from Alicante, Spain.

Belgium's Jens Adams is the only rider racing in Essen on Saturday and will dash to Dublin on a late flight to compete on Sunday as well. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Belgian national coach Sven Van Torenhout were scheduled to fly to Dublin on Saturday, so Van Aert may only be able to learn the course on Sunday morning.

Sweck (Cleran Fristads) leads the elite men's World Cup standings, and Vanthourenhout will also be in the mud race, but the race is still expected to be a battle between world champions Pidcock and Van Aert. Mathieu van der Pol will miss the race as he will be in Spain attending the Alpecin de Seuninck training camp.

Van Aert, who opened his cyclo-cross season with a second place finish in Antwerp last weekend, is sure to have the advantage as riding is a much bigger factor on the muddy course.

But Pidcock has an Irish agent and his coach, Kurt Bogarts, formerly Ireland's national road coach, gives him extra motivation. He made it in time to train on Saturday's muddy track, but was shocked by the cold.

"I consider this my home race this year. I'd be happy to win, but Wout is coming ...... We'll see what happens," Pidcock recently told the Irish Independent.

World Cup leader Femme van Empel (Pauwels Sausen Bingoel) and rival Puck Peterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) are the favorites to win the women's race after a recent showdown. Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma) and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin Deceuninck) will miss the race, but Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Ineos Grenadiers) will return.

The women's elite race is scheduled to start at 13:40 CET and the men's elite race at 15:10 CET. Cycling News will have race reports, news, and interviews for both races.

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