Belgium and the Netherlands will send a slightly reduced team to the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Fayetteville due to the cost and logistical difficulties of traveling from Europe to Arkansas with a truckload of equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Belgium and the Netherlands will give priority to sending teams with a shot at a medal. The Netherlands will send only two elite men's riders out of the seven available entries, but will gain an additional entry by having world champion Lucinda Brand and will field a full women's team of eight riders.

Belgium will send eight elite men, but Belgian champion Wout van Aert will miss the World Championships to prepare for the road season. There are few surprises on the Belgian roster, except for the inclusion of unsponsored Jens Adams, who finished fourth at this weekend's Belgian Championships in Middelkerke. Sanne Canto and Alicia Frank are the only elite female athletes selected for the Belgian team.

The Netherlands, which won both the elite and U23 races at the last Ostend World Championships (the juniors were cancelled), replaced defending champion Mathieu van der Pol, who is out with injury, with national and European champion Lars van der Haar and Kone van Kessel will be sent in place of the injured defending champion Mathieu van der Pol. Pim Longhaar and Femme van Empel will defend their titles in the U23s.

Neither country has announced who will participate in the team relay test event on the 28th.

Even though the teams are smaller than usual, many airlines are actively canceling flights due to staffing shortages caused by the rapid spread of the COVID-19 omicron mutant, which could make the trip stressful for everyone traveling to Arkansas.

Dutch coach Gerben de Knegt told Wielerflits.nl (opens in new tab) that the trip is "an almost impossible journey."

"Many of the flights we had arranged were cancelled. Many of the flights we had arranged were cancelled. As it stands, the athletes will arrive there the Tuesday after the Hoogerheide World Cup and we will travel the day before, along with our staff and 50 bikes. We will fly to Houston and rent a truck for the remaining 900 kilometers to Fayetteville."

The closest airport to Fayetteville, a regional airport in Northwest Arkansas, averages only 50 flights a day and has none international flights.

Travel has become more difficult as COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed, requiring negative tests within 24 hours of departure from the U.S. and further restricting re-entry in Europe.

Extra efforts to prevent variants of the much more infectious virus are putting additional stress on riders.

Van der Haar refrains from seeing friends and family, going shopping, and getting tested at home twice a week. He said, "Everything about the corona [virus] is so exhausting. If I spend the next three weeks fretting about it, I'm going to run out of energy. I'm focused on the race and I'm not going to go crazy otherwise or go for a walk in the city and seek it out."

Brand also limits her social interactions. She says, "It's hard for me to avoid seeing people as much as possible. You make a long trip to the U.S. and meet people there unwillingly, and you are unwillingly trapped with people for a long time in a fairly small space. The risk is always there. We have to limit contact and remain as safe as possible

"It's infuriating, but we all have to deal with getting sick from time to time. Now we are just dealing with something more contagious. It's been that way all season, with or without the World Championships. Of course, it is very annoying, but I think we are all at the same risk of contracting corona. Above all, let's hope that everyone gets an equal chance at the World Championships and that everyone stays healthy and finishes the season in good shape. "

Elite Girls: Sanne Canto, Alicia Frank

Elite Men: Jens Adams, Toon Arts, Vincent Bastans, Quinten Hermans, Eli Iserbitt, Daan Soete, Lawrence Sweck, Michaela Vanthourenhout, Reserve: Toon Vandebosch

U23 Girls: Kiona Crabbé

U23 Boys: Gerben Kuypers, Jente Michels, Thibau Nys*, Niels Vandeputte, Emiel Verstrynge, Joran Wyseure * (replaced by Witse Meeussen due to broken collarbone).

Junior girls Junior boys: Jordi Corsas, Kenay de Moyer, Aaron Dox, Witse Nuyens, Fele Urkens, Victor Vandenberghe

Elite girls Lucinda Brand*, Denise Betsema, Annemarie Worst, Marianne Voss, Jara Kastelain, Inge van der Heyden, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Manon Bakker

Elite Men: Lars van de Haar, Kone van Kessel

U23 Men: Pim Longhaar*, Ryan Kamp, Mies Hendriks

U23 Women: Pak Peterse, Femme van Empel*, Shirin van Anlooy

Junior Men: David Haverdings

Junior Women: Leonie Bentveld, Lauren van Empel