The elite men’s cyclocross world championship in Belgium today was a shockingly all-Belgian affair.

Niels Albert led from tape to tape, easing off at the end to finish with a 25-second lead over Rob Peeters, with Kevin Pauwels delighting the huge home crowd in Koksijde by making at an all-Belgian podium. They were followed in by the other four Belgians on the seven-man team. The first non-Belgian was Czeck rider Radomir Simunek in eighth, a distant 2:15 behind the winner and more than a minute behind seventh-place finisher Sven Nys. You can read the full race report here.

Even before this shocking result Belgium was the undisputed heartland of cyclocross, with the most races, strongest riders, biggest crowds and 11 of the last 15 elite men’s world titles. The only relief in recent years has come from Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic — world champion in 2010 and 2011 — and Dutch rider Lars Boom.

Stybar briefly challenged Albert for the lead today, but faded back to 13th, and Boom is taking a pass on cyclocross to focus on road racing. So that leaves the Belgian juggernaut at the top of the pyramid, and that’s something that has to worry the people in charge of the sport.

Delighted Belgian fans notwithstanding, dominance of this kind is not good for the long-term health of any sport — especially one with a relatively small participation base like ‘cross. The Canadian women’s hockey team is another example, with the sport’s Olympic status regularly brought into question because there are barely eight nations able to ice a team.

Something clearly needs to be done, but the problem is: What?

It’s hard to think of any rule changes that could blunt the Belgian dominance, and besides, why would you punish a nation simply for doing well?

The answer, if there is one, lies in finding a way for other nations to become more competitive. But again, how do you do that without tilting the playing field against Belgium?

The big problem for cyclocross is its ambiguous nature. It’s a winter discipline of a summer sport; it doesn’t appear on the Olympic program, so most countries — Canada included — don’t fund national team programs; and, outside Belgium, it’s hard to find sponsors and make a good living as a cyclocross racer.

It used to be that top road racers would use ‘cross as a way to stay fit in the off season. The winner of the first cyclocross worlds, in 1950, was 1947 Tour de France winner Jean Robic. And there’s a long list of other road and mountain bike stars that have put in strong cyclocross showings in the past: Eric de Vlaemink; Klaus Peter Thaler; Pascal Richard; Thomas Frischknecht.  But in the last 25 years or so the road and mountain bike seasons has gotten longer and the cyclocross specialists have gotten better, meaning a top rider who just wants to have fun doing ‘cross in the winter — like Canadian Olympic mountain bike hopeful Geoff Kabush, who regularly wins international cyclocross races in the fall and early winter — must stop racing well before the worlds in late January in order to prepare for their “real” season.

Road teams are also getting more sophisticated and regimented in how they prepare their riders for the season, and one-hour, high-intensity races in the mud don’t fit in well with carefully planned pre-season base training.

But cyclocross is a fantastic development tool. It gives up-and-coming riders an opportunity to compete on the world stage well before they might have a similar opportunity on the road or mountain bike. They can deal with the pressure and excitement of a world cup or world championship in a discipline where the stakes are not high. They can learn to structure their training around a specific goal, and learn fantastic bike handling at the same time. And if they don’t succeed in road or mountain biking, cyclocross becomes another career option for them.

Properly integrated into a cyclist’s development, cyclocross is a great tool towards future success on the road or mountain bike. Lars Boom is a good example of a rider who used it at the right time in his career. It would be great to see some support for developing athletes to use ‘cross in this way — especially Canadians, who were underrepresented at the world this year with just four riders, only one of them in the elite men’s category. Who knows — maybe some cyclocross superstars will arise from the experiment.

But in the meantime we’ll have to enjoy the Belgian dominance for what it is: An impressive show of strength, talent and national pride.