The 2024-25 cyclocross season is in full swing with the highest collection together with the Superprestige, X2O Trofee and Precise Cross getting underway final month.
Star riders together with Eli Iserbyt, Fem van Empel, Thibau Nys and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado have all resumed racing and profitable in latest weeks, although the 2 superstars of the ‘cross world, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, have not but returned to motion.
Each males have been coaching in Spain not too long ago following the tip of their 2024 highway seasons. Van der Poel ended his marketing campaign with a bronze on the Highway Worlds and the rainbow jersey on the Gravel World Championships. Van Aert, in the meantime, hasn’t raced since crashing out of the Vuelta a España in September.
The pair have been primarily based within the in style low season coaching location of Alicante in southeastern Spain. Van der Poel has been coaching alongside gravel racer Freddy Ovett in Spain, whereas on Tuesday Van Aert logged 2,000 metres of elevation throughout a 127km journey within the hills north of Benidorm.
Whereas they had been as soon as fixtures of the cyclocross season from September or October by means of to February, in latest seasons they’ve began their campaigns in late November or early December with desire given to their highway campaigns.
Van Aert is not anticipated to return to motion earlier than the tip of December after a Visma-Lease a Bike coaching camp which concludes on December 19. Due to this fact, he might make his season debut on the World Cup rounds in Hulst or Zonhoven on December 21 or 22.
Van der Poel’s plans are much less clear. In early October, the Dutchman stated, “We nonetheless need to resolve whether or not or not I’ll race cyclocross this winter”.
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Final week, the Dutch nationwide cyclocross coach Gerben De Knegt stated “he does have plans for cyclocross, however the query is whether or not it suits” along with his planning for the 2025 highway season.
With the long run plans of the pair nonetheless unclear, a number of ex-pros gave their opinion to WielerFlits. Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal directeur sportif, the three-time world champion Mario De Clercq, predicted that they’d be again in motion earlier than the brand new yr.
“I believe they will each be again racing on the finish of December,” he stated. “They can not do nothing for the entire winter, can they? I do not assume that can ever occur, they usually’ll by no means need that.”
Bart Wellens, himself a double World Champion and DS at Intermarché-Wanty, stated that Van der Poel and Van Aert probably would not tackle many races, with not a lot time passing between the tip of December and the Cyclocross Worlds in Liévin on February 2.
“They’re going to by no means be capable to do many races. If they begin on the weekend of Hulst, they will shortly attain the Worlds – particularly figuring out that almost all groups do an additional coaching camp in January,” he stated. “I believe that is a little bit of a disgrace however they’re at all times welcome in our sport and we additionally want them, to some extent.
“By the best way, in case you’re solely going to take action little cyclocross, you then’re doing the UCI a disservice. They’ve made the World Cup [which this season runs 12 rounds between November 24 and January 26 – Ed.] compact particularly for these two. If somebody like Van der Poel ignores a big a part of these races, then that is an enormous center finger to the UCI.
“If they are saying ‘we’re not coming’ then you need to depend on new prime riders like Nys, who you have put at a drawback with the brand new calendar. They’re going to be drained firstly of the Worlds, the place it could be robust to beat Van der Poel or Van Aert even when they had been contemporary.”
One other double world champion, Niels Albert, stated that the pair “deliver a sure environment” to cyclocross once they do compete. He added that he thinks they will need to return to the game the place they constructed their reputations.
“They each come from ‘cross, that’s their previous and the premise of their profession,” he stated. “Cyclocross can be a pleasant household sport to compete in. In that respect, I believe they nonetheless prefer it and that they nonetheless need to get that feeling each winter.”
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