Mathieu van der Poel will race cyclocross again this winter, and it looks like fans won’t have to wait much longer to see him back in the mud.
Alpecin Deceuninck team manager Christoph Roodhooft told Sporza on Sunday that the world champion is expected to make his first appearance during the busy stretch around Christmas.
Supporters have been waiting for months for clarity on when Van der Poel would return to the start grid.
Still, Sunday brought the first real hint. Speaking during the X2O Badkamers Trofee broadcast, Roodhooft a small said, “Around Christmas—he’ll show up somewhere.”
That may mean fans will see the world champ show up during the trio of races in Antwerp (Dec. 20), Koksijde (Dec. 21) or Hofstade (Dec. 22).
Just about a month ago, Roodhooft said the world champ had resumed training after a post-mountain bike world championship break in the U.S. MvdP ended his season early after a disappointing MTB worlds.
“He’s had a good holiday and is now preparing for his cyclocross campaign,” Roodhooft told Sporza.
This is a big year for van der Poel. He is tied for the all-time win record (7) with Erik De Vlaeminck. The 2026 UCI cyclocross world championships take place at the end of January in Hulst, The Netherlands.
As far as his arch-rival, Wout van Aert–no word on when he will start racing, or how much of a ‘cross season he had planned. Last year he rode a considerably condensed campaign–although he did extend it and rode the worlds, where he finished second.
Recently, following Tim Declercq’s farewell criterium, van Aert spoke about his cyclocross plans.
“My legs are good enough for a criterium, but for a real cross race I still have to train a bit,” he told Sporza. “I still have some obligations in the coming weeks and then the real work begins. I want to wait for a few weeks of training first to see when it makes sense to resume. There will also be a long road season and that is why we have to make a sensible plan.”
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