“If you simplify it, Mathieu van der Poel has just that bit more natural talent than Wout van Aert" - Is the Van der Poel-Van Aert debate over?

For almost their entire careers, both on the road and in cyclocross, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have found themselves compared against the success of the other. For many years, this was a close battle too, but of late, the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader has surged clear of his Team Visma | Lease a Bike rival in almost all regards.

“The gap between them continues to grow,” assesses Dutch ex-pro turned expert Thijs Zonneveld on the podcast In de Waaier. “Van Aert is a rider with all the qualities needed to give Van der Poel a real challenge. And for years, he did just that. They were like yin and yang – true equals.”

As mentioned though, of late Van Aert has seemingly always been a pedal stroke behind Van der Poel and whilst there are genuine reasons behind this such as the numerous bad crashes and injuries suffered by the Belgian, Zonneveld is sure that there is also just a talent disparity between the two at this point in their respective careers. “If you simplify it, it’s always been clear that Van der Poel has just that bit more natural talent than Van Aert," he explains. "Van Aert made up for it for a long time by being slightly more serious, making more sacrifices, and having just a bit more structured support.”

According to Zonneveld, Van der Poel is currently more serious about racing than he ever has been before. “Since the 2022 World Championships in Australia – the incident with those girls in the hotel corridor – he’s taken things more seriously," says the expert. "He moved to Spain, and so on. When Van der Poel was a little less focused, Van Aert could compensate with his work ethic. But now, things have gone back to how they were at the start of their careers, when Van der Poel was already that bit better.”

“Van Aert has helped shape the outcome of the Tour de France – that’s something else entirely compared to winning a stage or setting up sprints for a teammate, like Van der Poel does. In the context of Grand Tours, Van Aert is clearly ahead. But Van der Poel’s dominance in the rest of the season outweighs even that,” Zonneveld continues.

And whilst Zonneveld admits he'd love to see Van Aert prove him wrong and take a massive win, time could be running out for the 30-year-old. “It’s getting harder every year. One time Van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar aren’t at the Brabantse Pijl, and then Remco Evenepoel shows up instead," Zonneveld concludes. "It really is an unforgiving generation to race in. There’s a certain tragedy in it – that even someone like Van Aert still can’t manage to win.”