Superprestige Merksplas brings the men’s elite cyclocross race to British screens on Saturday, 14th November 2026. TNT Sports 2 is listed to begin live coverage at 14:00 GMT, ahead of the race start at 14:10. HBO Max provides a streaming route for viewers whose account includes TNT Sports. Merksplas, known as the Aardbeiencross, is the fourth round of this season’s eight-race Superprestige.
For followers of British cyclocross, the timing is particularly interesting. Cameron Mason arrives in the conversation after winning at Niel on Wednesday, but a race victory three days earlier does not confirm an entry for Merksplas. Without a verified official start list, this guide concentrates on the information a viewer can act on: channels, timings, the series, the course history and the significance of the recent racing.
UK TV channel and streaming service
The current UK programme listing names TNT Sports 2 for the men’s race and puts coverage at 14:00 GMT. The ten-minute lead-in matters: switching on at 14:00 should not mean that any of the racing has been missed. It also gives viewers time to check the channel before the field reaches its first technical section.
HBO Max carries live TNT Sports coverage for accounts and packages that include the necessary sport access. Users should look for the men’s Merksplas event within the cycling or live sport area. The presence of a generic Superprestige tile is not enough to show that an account includes the live rights.
Belgian listings refer to services such as Play Sports and Pickx+ Sports, while Dutch schedules may feature Eurosport or HBO Max in a different territory. Those are not substitutes for a legal UK broadcast. A link that works in Belgium is not proof that the same video stream is available to a viewer in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Coverage rights and channel allocations can change near race day. As of this check, the published UK slot is 14:00 on TNT Sports 2. If a recording is essential, confirm the named race in your own television guide or streaming account on Saturday rather than relying on the channel title alone.
Start time and Saturday schedule in Britain
The elite men are due to start at 14:10 GMT on Saturday, 14th November, equivalent to 15:10 in Merksplas on Central European Time. Britain switched to GMT in October, so the familiar one-hour difference between UK and Belgian clocks applies. Some results pages display local time without explicitly labelling it.
The women’s race is the first elite broadcast on the published UK schedule, with TNT Sports 2 coverage from 12:30 and a scheduled 12:40 start. The men’s coverage follows later at 14:00. That gap does not mean the event pauses between programmes: races are separate sessions on the same bill.
Unlike road stage races, the elite men’s cyclocross duration is set around an hour of racing, with lap count determined by organisers after early laps. The precise finish is therefore not a fixed appointment. A race that is faster or slower than expected can alter the end of the broadcast.
The race is expected to last approximately an hour, but the precise finishing time depends on the actual racing and the lap count set by officials. Do not treat the provisional finish shown on a calendar as an exact appointment, particularly if conditions slow the field.
How the Merksplas round fits the Superprestige
Merksplas is the fourth of eight rounds. Overijse opened the series on 25 October, Middelkerke followed on 5 November and Niel took place on 11 November. After Merksplas the competition moves to Ruddervoorde on 6 December, before festive rounds at Heusden-Zolder and Diegem and the Gullegem finale in January. The cyclocross calendar keeps the full sequence together.
A Superprestige win earns 15 points, second place 14, and positions down to fifteenth receive progressively fewer points. A rider losing the lead on the last lap can still salvage a valuable score for the season, whereas a mechanical problem that removes them from the points can cost far more. See our explanation of Superprestige history and scoring.
Four rounds in, repeated podiums can be worth more than an isolated win followed by poor results. The policy also changes the closing laps: a rider who cannot catch the leader still has a clear incentive to fight for every available position. Our Superprestige history and format explainer covers how the championship has developed.
The Aardbeiencross has its own sporting identity. Named after the area’s strawberry growing tradition, it can require fast decisions on changes of surface, line choice through turns and an ability to respond when the pace spikes. Our Merksplas course and winners history examines those recurring themes.
Recent winners and what Niel changed
Joris Nieuwenhuis won the 2025 men’s race at Merksplas, a notable display in a race that has repeatedly rewarded well-timed attacks and clean technical riding. Laurens Sweeck had won the 2024 edition. Those results are useful when looking at the race’s recent character, but they are not a forecast for the 2026 field.
Photo Credit: David Pintens / Belga / AFP via Getty ImagesCameron Mason won Niel on Wednesday, 11th November after the rain had turned the Jaarmarktcross into an unusually demanding contest. Joran Wyseure was second and Joris Nieuwenhuis third, while Mason seized his opportunity with a strong final lap. The race report from Niel records that performance in detail.
Wyseure’s second place at Niel followed his victory at Middelkerke the previous week, while Michael Vanthourenhout won the opener at Overijse. That spread of results illustrates a competitive autumn, although different courses and rider programmes make it unwise to extrapolate directly from one venue to another.
The 2025 Merksplas report is available in our men’s and women’s Aardbeiencross recap. What it cannot do is confirm Saturday’s 2026 starters. The organiser’s verified final entry information was not available at the time of writing, so this guide avoids a speculative start list or unsupported ‘confirmed favourites’.
Following the race if the live broadcast is missed
The first reliable result is the organiser’s final classification. Live graphics may show provisional positions or gaps, but the points standings should be taken from official results once any penalties and corrections have been processed. The race result and the Superprestige overall table are related, but they answer different questions.
Replays and extended highlights, where available, are controlled by the broadcaster. Open HBO Max or your television provider after the event and check the relevant men’s session. A highlights clip may tell you who won without showing why a gap emerged in the first part of the race.
Do not assume that a free Belgian clip is a full live stream or that a streaming package from another country will work in the UK. Nor is there a separately confirmed UK free-to-air highlights slot for this round. Treat unverified streaming claims cautiously, particularly where they ask for account details outside a recognised broadcaster.
The published UK slot is TNT Sports 2 from 14:00 GMT, followed by a scheduled 14:10 men’s start. Check the broadcaster’s live guide for any change. Our Aardbeiencross history gives more context on the course and previous winners, without pretending that any of them is confirmed for this year’s start line.
