"My brother won those World Championships with many more opponents" - Roger De Vlaeminck doesn't believe Van der Poel's CX triumphs compare to his legendary brother Erik's
CyclocrossSaturday, 01 February 2025 at 12:00
This Sunday in Lievin, Mathieu van der Poel will be looking to make some sporting history. If victorious at the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships, the Dutchman will claim a record equalling 7th Rainbow Jersey in the discipline. Comparing Van der Poel to the legendary Erik De Vlaeminck isn't quite so simple though.
At least that is the opinion of Erik's brother, Roger De Vlaeminck, himself world champion in 1975. "Of course I wish him that (Van der Poel taking a 7th world title ed.). But my brother won those World Championships with many more opponents," explains Roger in conversation with Sporza ahead of this weekend's showdown in Lievin. "If Erik had had a normal life, Mathieu would never have been able to match him. But of course you have to take care of yourself."
Read also
With Erik De Vlaeminck's seven world titles coming in an eight-year period between 1966 and 1973, Van der Poel had looked odds on to himself take a sixth world title in seven years this weekend. This last minute announcement of Wout van Aert's involvement has thrown a little spanner in the works for the Dutchman though, and Roger De Vlaeminck is hopeful Van Aert's presence will at least add some spectacle to the race. "I'm a fan of Mathieu. He's a great rider, but we need to have a duel on Sunday," he says.
"What do I expect? I'm not participating anymore myself. But I'm looking forward to it, because I suspect we'll get an exciting cross," he previews. "Van der Poel is of course in very good shape, but I think Van Aert will be able to follow for a long time... Van Aert always has a chance to win and certainly now. He showed that on Saturday. I think he sometimes gets a bit nervous because of Mathieu, but I can see him holding out for a long time."
"We really need to have a duel, because look at Sunday in Hoogerheide: after one and a half meters Mathieu was already solo. Then the rest is not good enough, right?" De Vlaeminck concludes. "Without Van Aert I would not have watched on Sunday. Or no, I would have."
Choose your fighter! 👀
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) February 1, 2025
Riders have picked their favourites for the Elite races of the 2025 UCI #CycloCross World Championships! 🌈
What's yours? 🫵#Lievin2025 pic.twitter.com/3HpjQlCd1l
claps 4visitors 2
7 Comments
Erik wasn't as gifted as MVDP. That's his brother's ego talking.
More than just ego ;-)
Pretty dumb to mention something like « If Eric had had normal life, MVDP would never have been able to match him ». Especially when you don’t explain what you mean by normal, yeah amphetamine dependence gets to you but it also helps performance so kind of contradictory evidence for backing the statement. Besides, he had a decent length career, CX WC podiums over 11 years so he had plenty of time whilst in shape. I think Roger is upset because MVDP has almost achieved what his brother and him managed, together ;-) Also, despite telling us he’s a fan, I doubt he would have said this if it had been Wout going for a 7th WC. He’s just a bad sport, like all those who had to find a way to beat Merckx.
Just in
Play for FREE! Fantasy Amstel Gold Race
Apr 17, 12:51
0
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Apr 06, 15:11
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Sure, but then again, if it’s just their feeling we should remain skeptic;-) Some days I feel really fast and the clock doesn’t back me up, others I feel slow and the clock tells me I’m not. A different pair of sunglasses is enough to change the impression of speed, making you feel you’re closer or further from the ground.Mistermaumau18-04-2025
- Amazing speeds compared to non cobble races, considering the huge extra power needed on the cobbles. I was watching a vid on how tires, pressure research and wheels have evolved for cobbles, it’s still horrible to ride but NO-ONE today will go back to trying to do this with past tech and standards, the difference is huge. Some are advocating riding cobbles with only 2 bar but pros will comprise at 3 to optimise the P-R cobbles/tarmac proportion. 5 bar is now considered optimal for tarmac alone on 28 tires. I still question that for normal bikes which aren’t very stiff, maybe lower pressure is more efficient for ultra rigid bikes only? But even then, I got to check out Cav’s TT bike at last year’s Tour and I could swear his tires were even wider than 32 and they felt like they had 10 bar in them???Mistermaumau18-04-2025
- Oumaïma Rayane seems like fairly credible evidence for the existence of at least some version of god.OCexile18-04-2025
- so what does TOO FAST even mean? stupid non-article article…OCexile18-04-2025
- Yeah well I understand that pros will much sooner notice small differences, and it can bother them.Ride197418-04-2025
- And another one bites the dust...bobo18-04-2025
- Shabby article, he is also still hoping for an Olympic (gold I guess) medal and he could not defend his road WC jersey as he already lost it, at most he could have tried reconquering it but that would have been tricky anyway in Rwanda (no news since a while but I have a question regarding that, if it would be decided late on to change the venue (meaning we’d maybe have a very different course), would any originally non participants get any chances to opt in?)Mistermaumau17-04-2025
- yes, the position of Wout is more complicated, many more factors.
maria2024202417-04-2025 - so excited about thismij17-04-2025
- Maybe Wout isn’t made for peaking so many times a year, few others have years like that. This winter was different due to accidents but if I were him and wanted to get some monuments I’d go on a cyclocross hiatusMistermaumau17-04-2025