On Friday it was finally revealed that world cyclocross champion Mathieu van der Poel will race 11 cyclocross events this winter. This comes a week after the Dutchman’s lifetime rival Wout van Aert’s team Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed a six-race programme for their own multiple world champ.
Long story short: both the sport’s top riders will line up at their first CX race of the 24-25 season a few days before Christmas, meeting for the first time at the sandy Superprestige Mol – Zilvermeercross on Monday 23rd December.
Van der Poel will get a head start in Zonhoven (22nd December) as the ‘Kerstperiode’ – which runs through Christmas and into the new year – gets underway with a Belgian double header, with his rival joining the fray on Monday. This also means that the full-time ’crossers will hit Saturday’s Hulst round (21st December) with extra vim and vigour, the last World Cup round of the season without a Van Aert or Van der Poel in attendance – a table of their full winter schedules is included below.
Van Aert’s six events include happy hunting ground for the three-time CX world champion, all fairly close to home, beginning in Mol where he’s won four times to Van der Poel’s three – though the latter is reigning champ – then north-west to Loenhout where both could add a fifth course win to their respective tallies. Superprestige Gullegem will be Van Aert’s first of two events sans Van der Poel, and he will wrap up his minimal campaign with one last face-off in Maasmechelen, one of very few venues lacking a win for either of the big two.
Wrapped up in the eager anticipation for the first mano-a-mano duel of the winter will be indications as to Van Aert’s recovery. After a disproportionately unlucky season that included a season-derailing crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Belgian hit the Vuelta a España with a vengeful spirit, but it all came crashing down, again, while on the attack on stage 16. It was a devastating blow, and the knee injury he picked up required surgery, antibiotics and a several days in hospital. With that in mind, he and his team have taken a cautious approach to any potential CX participation.
“Cyclocross remains my first love, which is why I enjoy returning to it every winter,” Van Aert said in a team statement. “This winter … it will be a cyclocross season I approach purely out of love for the sport, but with modest ambitions. After my crash in the Vuelta and my knee injury, it’s essential to make the best use of the time I have to prepare for the road season. A few cyclocross races fit nicely into that plan, but the schedule is deliberately more limited than in previous years.”
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