"I think that his program will be more extensive" - Paul Herygers predicts busier winter than expected for Mathieu van der Poel
Cyclocross
The long-standing question of when and where world champion Mathieu van der Poel will begin his cyclocross season this winter is soon to be answered. Although some are expecting a quieter than usual campaign, expert Paul Herygers believes Van der Poel could be more active than first thought.
In a recent interview, Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Christoph Roodhooft gave the intriguing answer of "Let's say next week," when asked about when the cyclocross schedule of Van der Poel would be revealed. Although that news has still yet to be confirmed as of the time of writing, as mentioned, cyclocross expert Paul Herygers foresees more on Van der Poel's programme than initially expected.
Read also
"Most people think that Van der Poel will only ride a few races. But Roodhooft said about that: "That's new to me." So I think that his program will be more extensive. Exciting, huh!" Herygers says in his analysis for Sporza, even making a prediction as to just how many races Van der Poel will partake in. "I think Van der Poel will probably ride a cross of 8 instead of 3."
In the absence of the likes of Van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock, Eli Iserbyt took the first World Cup victory of the season on the weekend, leaving Herygers impressed in the process. "Laurens Sweeck couldn't match Iserbyt yesterday. The sand (Sweeck's specialty) wasn't there to the extent that it was decisive. The non-sand sections were Iserbyt-tinged and Sweeck felt that too," he reviews of Iserbyt's 3rd victory of the season. "One more victory and then you'll suddenly be the king of victories. That's how quickly things can go when you have a weekend like Iserbyt in which you win 2 victories."
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024