Danny Nelissen: "Because of those crashes we didn’t get to see the Van Aert-Van der Poel battle on the cobblestones"
Cyclocross
Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are headlining the cyclocross over the past few days, and the same was expected of the past spring. However, because of crashes, Wout van Aert was sidelined from the cobbled classics and the World Championships altogether.
The two were the main topic of a recent conversation. “A smart cyclist will take that with him into the coming years, so that Evenepoel does something back for Van Aert," Michel Cornelisse, manager of Fenix - Deceuninck, said in the Wielerflits podcast.
The Belgian has helped the likes of Evenepoel at the Olympic Games this year quite a lot, but over the years also Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France and even Olav Kooij as a leadout man. This earns him a lot of companionship with his teammates that can be quite valuable for the future.
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However in this cyclocross season, there isn't much that can be done against Mathieu van der Poel. Former pro Danny Nelissen argued: “He’s not going to catch up just like that. I think he has adapted himself somewhat to that role. I am convinced that he can really make that connection, precisely because he is Van Aert, but because of those crashes we didn’t get to see the Van Aert-Van der Poel battle on the cobblestones. That also applies to Evenepoel and Vingegaard towards the Tour, who fell in the spring…”
“Let’s hope that those crashes stay away a bit in 2025," he hopes. "And that we will then get more of that man-to-man battle. Now you had a season in which Pogačar and Van der Poel didn't encounter much, and the others did.”
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Legendary moments of the 2024 cycling season: the incredible atmosphere on Montmartre during the Olympic road race in Paris. 😍🇫🇷 Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert flying up this hill was a nice bonus.pic.twitter.com/3s4c7OnhIK
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) December 28, 2024
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- Yes, they're not better than them at coming in 10th placeVeganpotter04-01-2025
- He may not be concerned, exactly, but I guarantee you he is fully conscious of this move: Kuss, Jorgensen, and Yates make for a very powerful domestique, and I think the balance of power may have shifted to Visma.verve82504-01-2025
- I would change the phrase in the heading of this article from "very afraid" to "watch him a bit".Ride197404-01-2025
- You can't tell me he hasn't had a scan or xray to confirm any serious rib damage! What are they hiding?frieders304-01-2025
- I'm sure Tadeg is quite concrened with this...NOT !frieders304-01-2025
- I was hoping to see Tadej’s and understood you’d seen THAT.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- I just used those two as an example of a sport rivalry, could have chosen any other sport but expected people would understand better if I stayed in cycling. That said, you seem to have misinterpreted what I tried to imply or missed that rivalry altogether. Before those two started turning heads on the road, they have a far more interesting and very long relationship in xc. WVA has paid a heavy price for the move to road cycling but he did put up some amazing performances when things were going right, very often taking one for the team which obviously doesn’t show in statistics. Real fans of cycling remember more than just results.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- If you’re going to mention Kuss, you should mention Jorgensson too, potentially he could bring just as much.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- According to his official schedule NARVÁEZ is going to race Omloop, Kurne, E3, Dwars door vlaanderen, and Flanders. Obviously he's going to support tadej in some of those but most likely will get his chance at the others where tadej doesn't go.alsene03-01-2025
- Interesting that you compare van Aert and van der Poel, when the crazy fact is that Pogacar is the main rival in Monument wins for van der Poel, while also being the main rival in the Tour for Vingegaard. I wish van Aert were more successful, but sadly he's won the single Monument and his injuries lately, ay yay yay, I miss his health!RidesHills03-01-2025