"The idea that Tom Pidcock would be a medallist at both the Summer and Winter Olympics would be wonderful" - Cyclocross moves closer to Winter Olympic involvement
Cyclocross
Could cycling fans soon have an added interest in the Winter Olympics? If Michel Barnier, former French prime minister and former co-president of the Albertville Olympic Games in 1992 gets his way, we could be seeing cyclocross added to the Winter Olympic Games sooner rather than later.
“We can imagine, and this is a wish of the cycling federation, that cyclocross could be a demonstration sport,” Barnier told L'Equipe about his desire to test the waters with a cyclocross battle at the 2026 Winter Olympics, before being a fully-fledged part of the Games that are set to be held in the French Alps in 2030. The Olympic committee often use these test events to trial a sport's potential Olympic interest and capacity before giving the green light proper for the following games.
Barnier was a keen watcher of the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships in Lievin, France earlier this year, and whilst that particular race didn't have a wintery feel to things, the Frenchman was incredibly impressed by what he saw. “I was very impressed by the popular success of cyclocross," he comments with respect. "The Games must be popular.”
Barnier also already foresees a potentially captivating story to tell at a Cyclocross Winter Olympic battle. "The idea that Tom Pidcock, for example, would be a medallist at both the Summer and Winter Olympics would be wonderful,” he previews.
Current UCI President David Lappartient is one of the leading contenders to take over at the helm of the Olympic Committee. Could that fact also be a big benefit for the hopes of cyclocross? Only time will tell but the signs are growing in positivity.
Unstoppable. Unmatched. Unreal 🤯
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) February 19, 2025
An absolute masterclass from @mathieuvdpoel at the #Lievin2025 storming to his seventh UCI Cyclo-cross World Champion title 🌈🥇
How many more can he win? 👀 pic.twitter.com/pgEHgnPQEL
Correct me if I'm wrong, I remember MvDP wasn't so great with CX on ice.
CX doesn't belong on ice anyhow. I wouldn't mind seeing it at the Winter Olympics if it were on a normal looking CX course, but find it ridiculous and just more of a public spectacle when run in an icy course. It loses it's entire meaning at that point.
Yeah, but it is Winter Olympic. I guess it's going to be on ice. Otherwise, they should just have it during Summer Olympic. Is there any Winter Olympic event that doesn't involve ice?
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- Absolutely, we are inundated by articles (not only in cycling or sport but everywhere from stocks to weather to elections) from self-called or popularly regarded experts making calls without reasoning. They basically know little more than any other informed or interested party and base everything on odds. The fact that they never have to justify their wrong calls post event but continue to get to make calls should get some attention. It would be cool if someone tallied up and recorded their predictions for future reference.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Yes, I agree but you’re taking risks writing such long posts here ;-) In that sense, the Tourless Primoz discussion is also pretty pointless as he virtually won a Tour (nobody would have counted on Tadej doing what he did at the last moment at that time and I guess it was bad karma for Primoz for so ofren cutting things so fine). I think you over interpreted my original thesis, it was not for trying to explain his current state, it was to suggest there was already mental material pre-crashes that has helped worsen his state, when it rains it pours. I really do remember having the feeling in that past he was more focused on not letting MVDP get better than him than doing his own thing. The seed of doubt was already planted and it doesn’t take much for doubt to grow in all sorts of directions.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- i wouldn't count Pogi out. Low probability of a win, but not impossiblemobk01-04-2025
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- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
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