Mathieu van der Poel to contest ten cross races before Worlds

Last week Wout van Aert released his stingy 2024-2025 cross schedule, which begins December 23 in the Mol round of the Superprestige series and ends at the Maasmechelen, Belgium World Cup on January 25. On Friday, we learned of Mathieu van der Poel’s schedule leading to a defense of his rainbow stripes in Liévin, France on February 2. A seventh world title would see him tie the great Erik De Vlaeminck.

Back to cyclocross! 🔥

The news you have all been waiting for: six-time World Champion @mathieuvdpoel returns to CX with 11 interesting appointments coming up! 🗓️

📚 Read more about MVDP’s program and his ambitions through the interview: https://t.co/G4dHLokbFz… pic.twitter.com/ZvzUcq7X53

— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) December 13, 2024

It will all kick off for the world champion at the Zonhoven World Cup on December 22, but he won’t face van Aert until the next day in the Mol round of the Superprestige (Happy Holidays from MdvP and MvA!). The great rivals will also race Azencross Exact Cross in Loenhout on December 27, the Dendermonde round of the World Cup on January 5 and the Maasmechelen World Cup on January 25.

Van der Poel will race six rounds of the World Cup, two of the X2O Badkamers Trofee and one each of the Superprestige and Exact Cross series. Last year he won 13 of the 14 cross races he took on.

In a press release, van der Poel said, “After careful consideration and discussions with the team management and performance staff, I decided on a solid schedule of races. A more compact program of, say, two World Cup races combined with the World Championships was another option, but I think it makes more sense to do a more extensive package of races.”