OFFICIAL | Mathieu van der Poel back to cyclocross - 11 races, 4 races against Wout van Aert and World Championships!
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel's 2024-2025 cyclocross calendar has finally been revealed. Better late than ever, we will have the discipline's World Champion start off his season next week at the Zonhoven World Cup and he will be hunting down a record-matching seventh world title in Liévin later in the winter!
Mathieu van der Poel's 2024-2025 full cyclocross program:
22nd December: World Cup Zonhoven
23rd December: Superprestige Mol
26th December World Cup Gavere
27th December: Exact Cross Loenhout
29th December: World Cup Besançon
1st January: X2O Trofee Baal
3rd January: X2O Trofee Koksijde
5th January: World Cup Dendermonde
25th January: World Cup Maasmechelen
26th January: World Cup Hoogerheide
2nd February: Liévin World Championships
Read also
The World Champion will be debuting his 'new' jersey in Zonhoven on the 22nd of December, one day before Wout van Aert makes his return. The two will face off for the first time in Mol, but will then have three other races where they will race against each other: Exact Cross Loenhout; World Cup Dendermonde and World Cup Maasmeechelen. Van Aert will not race the World Championships, where van der Poel will have the opportunity to win for the seventh time, which would see him match Erik de Vlaeminck's record.
Van der Poel will race a very packed Christmas schedule, racing almost every single cross. He will conclude this dense schedule at the Dendermonde race, before taking a bit of rest and going on a team training camp in Spain. He will miss the national championships, but surprisingly also the Benidorm World Cup, close to where he lives and will be.
He will finally return to racing in Maasmechelen on the 25th January where he should see van Aert for the final time before the road season, adding that to Hoogerheide (organized by his father Adrie); these will be the final preparation races for the World Championships that take place in Liévin, France, on the 2nd of February.
Read also
Back to cyclocross! 🔥
— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) December 13, 2024
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

Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments









