"It's a bit like Federer versus Nadal" - Mathieu van der Poel vs Wout van Aert among the great sporting rivalries according to Thijs Zonneveld
Cyclocross
This Sunday, one of the great cyclocross rivalries will be renewed as Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert do battle in Lievin at the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships. In the opinion of ex-pro turned analyst Thijs Zonneveld, the meeting marks a must watch occasion for cycling fans.
"That is always a duel, because they have been riding against each other for so long," begins Zonneveld's assessment on the podcast 'In het Wiel'. "Certainly when they turned pro, Van der Poel was a bit better before that, and Van Aert became world champion in cross three times in a row, they really weighed against each other."
Although their presence in cyclocross has become more limited over recent years, if anything the rarity of the modern Van der Poel / Van Aert duals only makes them all the more anticipated when they do arrive. And whilst it's the Dutch, reigning world champion who starts as favourite, it would hardly be a massive surprise to see the Belgian team celebrating a victory on Sunday.
"The beautiful thing about that duel is that they kept changing positions. There are few duels in sports where two stars are so evenly matched," Zonneveld continues. "It's a bit like Federer versus Nadal. In many duels, one party structurally becomes the superior party, that hasn't been the case for a long time with Van Aert and Van der Poel."
If Van Aert were to win this year's Rainbow Jersey, it could also mirror Van der Poel's success from 2023. "The World Championship that Van Aert was going to win, because Van der Poel was messing around and was coming off a bad season. In the lion's den, Van Aert was going to become world champion, because he was so much better in the weeks before," recalls Zonneveld. "But at the World Championships it turned and Van der Poel started attacking from lap one. We heard from the team that he was really deep, that he had enormous doubts and did not know how to beat Van Aert. Van Aert had certainly made progress in the Grand Tours and he felt that he almost had no dominance anymore."
"If Van Aert had won, Mathieu would really have become the inferior party. And he would have received eight seconds. The opposite happened. In the final round he did something unexpected. Before Van Aert knew what was happening, Van der Poel started sprinting and became world champion," Zonneveld concludes. "He relaunched his career there. He became more serious, more fixated on winning big races and he gained more self-confidence. And it is also the moment that Van Aert became a bit less."
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Getting bearings! 🧐
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 30, 2025
Riders had the opportunity to test the 2025 UCI #CycloCross World Championships course's grip for the first time today. 👊
It's muddy! 👀#Lievin2025
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- 1. Pro riders, especially at that speed, wouldn't easily fall over. 2. Again, pro riders wouldn't really have that problem. In reality, upright bikes are inherently less stable, as their center of mass is higher. 3. Yes, the US. And we do have very complex roads (in the East, especially the mountains). Also, I don't think there are worse roads in developed countries than the US (for bikes). And remember, due to people wanting the bikes the pros ride, the UCI almost has the ability to decide what is sold, at least what is popular. So, if they allowed recumbents, or didn't exist, then people would choose what is most effective. Recumbents are more faster, and ones with fairing are much faster and are mostly weatherproof, making riding more practical for more weather conditions, increasing their usage for commuting, and in the end increasing health. Long story short, the UCI actually contributes to mortality, due to their foolish rules.acem8201-03-2025
- A joke stops being funny when try to explain why it is funny. There is no need to overanalyize it and explain your understanding or anybody else's understanding of the joke.Cyclingsbestfan01-03-2025
- Price gouging, plain and simple. Just another nail in the coffin of UK cycling. You have to feel for the athletes who are out there trying to inspire the next generations, unfortunately less and less people will be reached as we are priced out and the sport will suffer.Jezla01-03-2025
- it's on FloBikesfrieders301-03-2025
- That’s a terrible analogy, especially the Vin/CR part. It would have been more interesting to add a few and compare with tennis.Mistermaumau01-03-2025
- 1. In one sense yes but if they’re closed it wouldn’t be easy to avoid lateral knocking and that would often lead to crashes by toppling over. 2. Yes, technically everything would be possible. You’d still need to train though and I’m not sure many would feel comfortable doing so in traffic. 3. Are you in the US? Roads in many parts of the world are too complex for the flag thing to be a big help, especially now that taller SUVs have caught up. I’d be enthusiastic about anyone kickstarting the sport but I have no illusions about it becoming popular in public or for mobility. No past 2-wheel faired concepts ever gained traction, the at the time audacious Sinclair C5 was an even bigger flop than Delorean cars or soon the Cybertruck ;-) BMW’s roofed motorbike wasn’t much better accepted, there is no money to be made from these types of vehicles though I admit I’ve been surprised by the relative popularity of double front wheeled motorbikes but then they have a pretty generic motorbike look. People are very resistant to change when it comes to locomotion.Mistermaumau01-03-2025
- It’s 2025, surely you can figure out a workaround? Not going to suggest the obvious for fear of it turning viral and adding another 1-2% to global electricity consumption but in this era where EVERYONE uploads or livestreams almost EVERYTHING, it doesn’t take a genius to organise a hack.Mistermaumau28-02-2025
- And even then he’d still better take a replacement battery with :-)Mistermaumau28-02-2025
- I got it was a joke but yes a lot of people won’t get the style of humour, especially those who equate the sponsor with team and rider choices and unfortunately, whenever a rider or team messed up, the media never hesitated to include the sponsor’s name in the story so it’s not surprising. Can you imagine the damage done to a company like Festina to have its name permanently associated? Lucky ONCE got out before things blew up.Mistermaumau28-02-2025
- Ok, thanks, just wanted to make sure I didn’t misunderstand it for something more cryptic :-)Mistermaumau28-02-2025