“From what I hear, the merger between Pauwels Sauzen and Ridley is 99% done” – Cyclocross set for seismic shake-up according to former world champion Niels Albert
Cyclocross
Cyclocross is bracing for one of its most dramatic structural shifts in years, with former world champion Niels Albert declaring in conversation with HLN that a major team merger is effectively a done deal.
According to Albert, “the merger between Pauwels Sauzen and the Ridley Racing Team is 99 per cent done”, a development he believes will reshape both the competitive landscape and the financial foundations of elite cyclocross.
Albert stressed that only final contractual details remain between Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw and Ridley Racing Team, calling the union “the best solution for both teams with an eye on the near future.”
In a discipline where budgets are tight and sponsors increasingly difficult to secure, he warned that consolidation is becoming less a strategic option and more an economic necessity.
A merger driven by survival — and by pressure over Eli Iserbyt’s fitness
Albert’s assessment of the situation was brutally pragmatic. While expressing personal concern and sympathy for Eli Iserbyt, he also acknowledged the harsh realities facing team boss Jurgen Mettepenningen.
“I hope with all my heart that things work out for Eli Iserbyt,” Albert said, “but if Eli turns out not to be race-ready in a few weeks, then – as hard and as harsh as it sounds – the world inevitably keeps turning. And Mettepenningen has to make sure he keeps his sponsors on board. Schakelen — in other words, he has to act.”
With Iserbyt sidelined, a substantial budget line is unused. Combined with fresh investment from Ridley, Albert believes the merged structure will have more competitive and financial firepower than either team could achieve alone. As he put it: “With the freed-up budget of Iserbyt and the extra money Ridley want to put into the project, one plus one will equal three.”
Thibau Nys’ rise adds further pressure to cyclocross’ shifting hierarchy
While the merger dominated Albert’s headline comments, the former world champion also highlighted how the sport’s competitive order is shifting — led by the explosive rise of Thibau Nys.
Albert described Nys’ dominant Czech World Cup victory as something close to perfection, calling it a “super-super day” and the strongest elite performance of his young career. More significantly, he argued that Nys is now one of the very few riders capable of genuinely troubling both Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert when the “Big Two” return to off-road racing next month.
“Thibau is at this moment one of the only riders whose flashes of class can hurt the ‘Big Two’ and put them under real pressure,” Albert told the Belgian outlet.
Nys has started the winter in strong form
A sport entering a new phase — on and off the bike
With team mergers on the brink of confirmation, a potential reshuffling of major riders, and Nys emerging as a genuine challenger to the sport’s two defining stars, Albert believes cyclocross is entering a pivotal moment — one shaped as much by economic realities as sporting ones.
“You can regret that another team disappears,” he reflected, “but in a discipline where it is becoming harder and harder to attract new sponsors and funding, this is the only way to survive.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin is wuite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
- dude, Lemond never even was in the same race as Armstrong. He throws all these aspersions on other American riders who might usurp his throne as the greatest ever American racer. He doesn't say a single thing about (foreign) dopers who he actually raced against. Biggest douchebag move ever. I used to revere that guy, now I despise him. His actions are so weird.fatsupermodel02-11-2026
- This is just stupid, You do what you are good at not what you are weak at. He has no results to speak of when he participated. Even Froome, Conatdor had very little. With Pogi there he wont win none of the classics. he is already 30+ with a few years left at the top. It takes years to get good at classics. Is that really worth the effort???abstractengineer02-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments