"Without earpieces, it is difficult racing" - Wout van Aert had no idea of Mathieu van der Poel's crash
Cycling
The World Championships are an unique race throughout the same for a few reasons and one is the lack of radios for the riders. That may have changed the outcome of the men's Elite road race because Wout van Aert admits he had no idea of Mathieu van der Poel's crash and did not up the chase afterwards.
''I'm not super happy or anything because I wanted to be the world champion here. But I'm not too disappointed either because I rode a good race and didn't make any mistakes," van Aert said in a post-race interview, including In de Leiderstrui. "In the final, I felt Mathieu was the strongest, so I wanted to be on his wheel. That worked, but he dropped everyone in the end. Still, I had to make the best of it, so I was satisfied with my second place."
Whilst van Aert rode to a fourth silver medal without achieving gold at the Worlds in his road cycling career, he was left to wonder if there could've been more after the race. Van der Poel crashed shortly after his attack and had a broken shoe. Although he went on to then extend his gap, that was partially because the chasing group had no idea of the crash and slowed down the chasing as they began to fight for the medals.
"I only saw after the finish that Mathieu had fallen; we didn't know. We ride here without earpieces, which is very weird for me," the Belgian admits. "Mathieu was the strongest, and he immediately took a gap, but from then on, we had to compete without information for the second place. If we had heard he had fallen, it might have been different. Now we didn't ride anymore, so in that sense, it affected the race."
"Without earpieces, it is difficult racing. As professionals, we are normally always aware of the tactics and other situations. Actually, it's ridiculous; in a group of two hundred, we now have to go looking for our compatriots." This was further showed by the protest that took place earlier in the race, where the chasing group and peloton kept riding quite quickly all the way into the incident location as they were no aware.
As was the case in the cyclocross World Championships, van Aert finished second behind the Dutchman. He's asked how his palmarès would look like if van der Poel was not around. "Whether I've ever thought about what my palmares would look like without him? I don't want to think about that," he laughs. "Mathieu is a great talent, and he can focus on his moments very well, as he has shown again now. He is the deserved winner."
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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.
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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.
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- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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🏴 #GlasgowScotland2023 It’s not a bad podium for the worlds we think. 🤔🤩
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