Mathieu van der Poel added a dramatic edition of the Azencross in Loenhout to his palmares. For a brief moment, it seemed we were headed for a dream duel with Wout van Aert, but the latter had to deal with two flat tires. Van der Poel, in turn, soloed convincingly to a new victory.
Last year, more than 15,000 people were already present in Loenhout, the municipality in the Noorderkempen region, and with a new showdown between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, another true popular festival was expected. After meeting each other already in Antwerp and Hofstade, the two best cyclocross riders of the past decade faced off again in this time a dry and particularly fast edition of Loenhout.
The organizers could count themselves lucky to have the two big stars present, together good for ten world titles in cyclocross, but there were also two notable absences with Thibau Nys and Tibor Del Grosso. The Belgian champion was on the start list but decided at the last moment to remove the race from his program for some extra rest ahead of the Diegem (December 30) and Baal (January 1) races.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2025 |  Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2024 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2023 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2022 |  Wout van Aert |
| 2021 | Wout van Aert |
| 2019 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2018 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2017 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 2016 | Wout van Aert |
| 2015 | Tom Meeusen |
Van der Poel escapes unharmed
Most eyes were once again on Van der Poel, but the man in the rainbow jersey certainly did not have a flawless opening lap. After a subpar start, the world champion quickly moved up, but after a few minutes nearly lost his balance following an - whether accidental or not - contact moment with a spectator along the course. Fortunately for Van der Poel, he escaped unscathed and was able to take his position near the front.
🚵🇧🇪 | What happened there? Mathieu van der Poel appears to be touched by the hand of a spectator? However, it is unclear if this was deliberate. 🤔
📺 Stream the cross on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/tb485pdPEg
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) December 29, 2025
In the first two laps, there was some cautious testing in Loenhout, but in the third lap the crowd exploded for the first time. It was Van Aert who took the lead and succeeded in splitting up the lead group. Only one rider was able to latch on to his effort, namely - of course - Van der Poel. The cyclocross fans could look forward to a first, real battle between the two best cyclocross riders of the past decade.
Dream duel? Flat tires ruin the plan
However, the dream duel proved to be short-lived, as Van Aert lost a lot of ground in a short time during the fourth lap. What happened: the Belgian suffered a flat tire and had to helplessly watch how his big rival pulled further and further away. By the start of lap five, the gap had already grown to nearly half a minute, but Van Aert still had quite a distance to cover on his flat rear tire.
🚵🇧🇪 | A flat tire for Wout van Aert! 😖😖😖 What bad luck and such a shame for the race.
📺 Stream the cross on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/5FU3GSBFWO
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) December 29, 2025
The Visma | Lease a Bike rider saw a possible first season win go up in smoke and was caught by the chasers after his bike change. The bitter run wasn’t over yet for Van Aert, as not long after he rode another flat.
This proved the last straw for the 31-year-old crowd favorite, who visibly gave up and fell back to thirteenth place after a new bike change, far behind Van der Poel, who was spared from misfortune and thus soloed to his sixth win of the season. Van der Poel was able to give his mother Corinne a nice birthday present.
In the shadow of an again dominant Van der Poel, Niels Vandeputte rode solo to second place, while Nieuwenhuis managed to outsprint fellow Dutchman Ryan Kamp for third. But even more important for Nieuwenhuis: the Ridley team leader made good progress today - despite his knee problems - in the fight for the overall victory in the X2O Badkamers Trophy.
X²O Badkamers Trofee Azencross - Loenhout| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57:48 | |
| 2 | + 46 | |
| 3 | + 57 | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | + 59 | |
| 7 | + 01:00 | |
| 8 | + 01:03 | |
| 9 | + 01:15 | |
| 10 | + 01:26 |
| Rank | Rider | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joris Nieuwenhuis | 06:02:27 | |
| 2 |  Cameron Mason | 06:05:19 | |
| 3 | (1) | Niels Vandeputte | 06:07:02 |
| 4 | Thibau Nys | 06:07:13 | |
| 5 | Toon Aerts | 06:08:08 | |
| 6 | (3) | Mathieu van der Poel | 06:11:07 |
| 7 | (1) | Toon Vandebosch | 06:12:01 |
| 8 | (1) | Lars van der Haar | 06:13:26 |
| 9 | (2) | Ryan Kamp | 06:14:31 |
| 10 | (2) | Laurens Sweeck | 06:14:49 |
