Is Tadej Pogacar going to race cyclocross in Belgium this weekend? No, but Gullegem organizers tried to make it happen

This cyclocross winter could've had a standout moment as the organizers of the Gullegem Cross, which will take place on the 3rd of January, have reached out to Tadej Pogacar's management to try and lure him into the race. It hasn't succeeded, but it might be happening at some time in the future.

In the middle of the latter part of the Christmas block, the Superprestige race in sandwiched inbetween several high-quality events. That however means that this will be one of the very few races in this period that will neither feature Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert. A tough hit for the organizers.

The budget existed however, and so a call was made to Alex Carera, agent of Tadej Pogacar, in an attempt to get the ultimate surprise at the start. "We started looking for another figurehead for our cyclocross race. A really good rider, so to speak. That's a description that fits Tadej Pogacar," organizer Stijn Tant told Sporza.

Although it might seem out of the ordinary, it wouldn't come as a complete shock, as the Slovenian is a former racer in the discipline, and national champion in the youth ranks before he signed with UAE Team Emirates - XRG. He most recently raced it in December 2022, in Slovenia.

Recently, UCI director of sport Peter van den Abeele also argued that if the team gave him the green light, that Pogacar would like to be racing cyclocross.

Pogacar is a rider who looks to add different factors towards his schedule so as to keep himself mentally fresh, and it can't be discarded in the future that he will attempt to make a comeback to the discipline. But this will not happen at the time being.

"Ultimately, we were told no, because Pogacar would be away on a training camp. So it didn't fit into the schedule," Tant explained. "We thought we'd find one that was representative of someone like Tadej. But we didn't make any concrete agreements. Still, we always have to believe in it." But he also argued that "we've already made contacts". 

As for the event itself, it will have a large after-part in hopes of getting more spectators to come in alongside the cyclocross races. "We're an enthusiastic organization always looking for new things. For example, we're going to open a 'Kuhstall', where we'll combine cyclocross and après-ski."