“Mathieu van der Poel is the greatest cyclocross rider who has ever raced”: Sven Nys passes the torch as legendary World Cup record is matched in Maasmechelen

Records can fall quietly. This one did not. In Maasmechelen, Mathieu van der Poel survived his most turbulent race of the winter to reach 50 World Cup victories, drawing level with the benchmark that had defined modern cyclocross for a decade. The context matters. So do the words of the man whose mark has just been matched.

Speaking to Sporza before the race, Sven Nys framed the moment with a clarity that feels even sharper now the number is real.

“It’s an honour that I was able to win 50,” Nys said. “That record stood for ten years, and this weekend it will be broken by a very beautiful name. He is the greatest cyclocross rider who has ever raced. I’m going to enjoy it even more today.”

Those remarks were not predictions dressed up as praise. They were context from the rider who owned the standard. Maasmechelen simply provided the proof.

Van der Poel did not cruise to 50. Two punctures, both arriving at the worst possible moments, forced him into energy-sapping chases and stripped away the control that has characterised much of his unbeaten winter. There were near misses on the climbs and pressure applied relentlessly behind. At one point, the race looked ready to slip.

That is why Nys’s assessment lands with extra weight now. The record was not matched through inevitability, but through resilience. Van der Poel rebuilt his race at his own tempo, limited risk when it mattered, then delivered the decisive acceleration when the openings appeared. It was dominance tested rather than assumed.

Nys has never framed this as a loss. He has framed it as succession. “I did what I could do, with all my talents and shortcomings. Every generation has its champions,” he said, reflecting on his own career. The implication is clear. Records are milestones, not possessions.

What sets Van der Poel apart, in Nys’s view, is not just the number beside his name. “Now we are seeing a magnificent champion in Van der Poel. In several disciplines even, something I was never able to do in my career,” he said. “In cyclocross, I was able to hold my own, but what is riding around now with Van der Poel is of a very high level.”

Maasmechelen illustrated that breadth under stress. The technique, the recovery, the judgement, when the race demanded restraint rather than force. It is one thing to win repeatedly. It is another to win on days when the script collapses.

Van der Poel’s own reaction after the finish spoke to that balance. He acknowledged the energy cost of the punctures and the need to manage risk, describing a day that “didn’t come without a fight” and expressing satisfaction with the feeling rather than the margin. The relief was visible.

Nys’s last World Cup win came a decade ago, in Koksijde in 2015, ahead of a new generation that included Van der Poel himself. Ten years on, the number has been matched. The manner of it matters. So does the endorsement.

This was not a torch-passing ceremony. It was passed in context, with the record equalled on the hardest day of the winter and with the sport’s most authoritative voice explaining exactly why that matters.