The 2025 road racing season is over and done with, and the 2025-26 cyclocross season is already up and running. The top level of ‘cross racing in Europe launched in recent weeks with the Exact Cross, Superprestige, and X2O Trofee series all getting underway.
Riders such as Lucinda Brand and Michael Vanthourenhout have enjoyed hot starts to the campaign, and world champion Fem van Empel and European champion Thibau Nys have also added their names to the early honour rolls.
But, as has often been the case in recent seasons, a shadow – well, a trio of shadows – hangs over the scene. The biggest stars of men’s cyclocross, the riders who have shared the last 11 world titles, are yet to put tyre to dirt this season.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Last season, Mathieu van der Poel rode a limited campaign of just eight races, including five rounds of the UCI World Cup and the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Liévin, France. He won every race, but didn’t start his season until the World Cup round in Zonhoven on December 12.
The Dutchman is currently in Spain training alongside his frequent training partner Freddy Ovett, and so it doesn’t look like he’ll be hitting the mud of Northern Europe quite yet.
We’ll have to wait until the unveiling of the ‘cross Worlds route at the end of this month for his team to reveal when he’ll be back in action.
Taking that timing into consideration, and given that his previous two seasons have started in mid-December, an educated guess would say similar this time around, too.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Van der Poel’s eternal rival, Wout van Aert, has taken a similar tack to the Dutchman in recent seasons, limiting his cyclocross outings to nine and six, respectively, in the past two seasons, as well as waiting until December to get going.
There are hints that the Belgian will get underway before Van der Poel, however. Perhaps a 2025-26 season debut at the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…