Although cyclocross fans are treated week after week to thrilling races and exciting duels, there is also a segment of the viewing audience that fully tunes in only when Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel join the competition. We’ve already had a few hints from the Belgian, so we can make an educated guess about when we’ll see him with his feet in the mud again.
The three-time world champion has been open for a while about his strong desire to race cyclocross again. That motivation was already evident during last season’s cyclocross campaign, in which Van Aert only competed six times due to circumstances, but still secured the World Cup victory in Dendermonde. In addition, he joined the World Championships in Liévin, France, at the very last moment.
Early offseason
The circumstances this time point to a longer winter break. Unlike last year, the Belgian has not entered the winter with an injury. Last year, he was still recovering from a crash at the Vuelta. This time, he ended his road season pretty early—mid-September, after the Canadian one-day races and the SUPER 8 Classic. He was willing to sacrifice the Gravel World Championships for that.
A conscious choice, Van Aert told us at our microphone in Canada. "I get a nice early offseason. After that, I will start preparing for the new season a bit earlier than usual, so missing the Gravel World Championships is a bit of a shame. Of course, I would have liked to be there, but it’s quite late in the year and we want to approach things differently."
That different approach means starting cyclocross earlier? "I want to do some races and maybe begin crossing a bit sooner, precisely because my offseason starts earlier," he said.
Van Aert continued until the World Championships - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
By the end of October, Van Aert was already spotted training again, and during Tim Declercq’s farewell criterium he reiterated his ambitions. "I first want to wait a few weeks of training to see when it makes sense to resume. I still have a long road season ahead, so we need to make a smart plan," said the three-time world champion, who was later seen vacationing in the United States, playing basketball and driving a Porsche. In between, he was regularly on his bike.
Foreign World Cups
From past seasons, we know that Van Aert likes to restart in early December. Often, he races one or two cyclocross events before heading off for a training camp with Visma | Lease a Bike in the second week of December. This was still the case in 2023, when Van Aert started and won in Essen. Last year, his cyclocross debut was much later due to injury. Moreover, he became ill just before his planned first race in Mol, which meant Van Aert only returned to the field in Loenhout on December 27.
If Van Aert wants to revert to the strategy from two years ago, he faces the issue that several foreign World Cups are scheduled on weekends in late November and early December, making an early return to cyclocross less seamless.
Logically, his first race could then be the CAPS Urban Cross in Kortrijk, coincidentally an event sponsored by a personal partner of Van Aert. If he is at training camp that weekend, Van Aert could travel a week earlier to the pleasant Sicilian race in Cabras (December 7). Waiting until a return in Antwerp (December 20) would be rather late.
2024: December 27 in Loenhout
2023: December 9 in Essen
2022: December 4 in Antwerp
2021: December 4 in Boom
2020: November 28 in Kortrijk
2019: December 27 in Loenhout
