"To say that Wout van Aert will beat Van der Poel would be a bit ridiculous... but it's not impossible" - Belgian ex-pro expects fantastic spectacle in Liévin
Cyclocross
The cyclocross World Championships are just around the corner and the main debate topic is whether Mathieu van der Poel will fulfill predictions and obliterate the competition on the course in Liévin. Fortunately, a contender with capital "c" emerged at the last moment possible, raising everyone's hopes for a spectacular race. The hero in question is none other than the three-time world champion Wout Van Aert.
"You can't say that Wout van Aert will beat Van der Poel on Sunday. You might make yourself look a bit ridiculous. But saying that Van Aert can beat Mathieu van der Poel, that's a different story. Thanks to that addition, we have someone in the Belgian selection who doesn't fear Van der Poel," beams Paul Herygers in his column on Sporza.
"Although Van Aert hasn't been able to prove that with results yet." After all, Van Aert appeared in great shape in Maasmechelen World Cup when he was the only man able to (although from a considerable distance) keep up with Van der Poel's pace. "Van Aert started from the 4th row, rode to the lead, fell, joined the front again, went over the top and rode away from everyone again with his finger in his nose. Except for Van der Poel, because he was already gone. Then you can go to the World Championship with a bit of courage, right?"
Herygers thinks that Van der Poel might be even "a bit happy" that Van Aert is at the World Championships after all. "But I think he is also getting a bit stressed. Because that same Wout van Aert has proven so often in the past that he is Van der Poel's equal. Van der Poel lost a world title to Van Aert three times. Without Wout, he could now aim for rainbow jersey number 10."
The predicted swampy and difficult (running) course seems to be a blessing for Van Aert, who will need to fight from far back at the start. "But whether he will be able to keep up with Van der Poel for long is anyone's guess. Everything suggests that it might be possible," Herygers states. "I hope for a fair duel in which Van Aert takes up the gauntlet against Van der Poel and moves along. The rest has to be filled in by Wout himself."
The statistics clearly speak in Van der Poel's favour, because of the last 11 duels between them, the Dutchman emerged victorious 10 times. "But the race still has to be ridden," Herygers dusts off an age-old cliché. "When Van der Poel became the youngest world champion ever in Tabor 2015, he may not have had the right to do so. Because Van Aert then rode his chain off 3 times and came in a mere few seconds."
On Sunday, bad luck can once again decide between victory and defeat. "Nobody deserves to be set back by bad luck. But it can happen and it is part of the cyclocross."
Read also
Just in
Play for FREE! Fantasy Tour of Flanders
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- I don’t know how generalised it is but in every race in every country I’ve participated in you either need to show a club licence (which you only get by having a medical around every 2-3 years) or by having a doctors’ aptitude certificate. Can’t ask for much more. Don’t forget, 15000 people (of which quite some are well into the latter part of life), that’s a small town where people will have medical issues every day even without cycling hard. In one country I lived in you even have to do a full ECG and power test regularly to ride competitively after 50.Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Before or after their kids get married to each other ;-)Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Ok guys, both of you, this is far too complex to debate as a whole as there are dozens of variables and none of the conditions have been rigidly defined, what’s more, everyone is looking at things from a different angle and for a different purpose so let’s go back to the real basics first to see if we can agree on some starting principles. If you throw a golf ball or ping pong ball (assuming same size here) at the same speed in the same direction, which is going to land further? Ditto if you launch them with the same power? If two identical riders of 70 and 80kg (lets assume the extra 10kg is just bones and drinks and lunch) on identical bikes ride side by side at speed X with zero wind (or alternatively a really strong head wind) and both stop pedalling at the same time, which is going to roll further or come to a stop sooner? The wind force does inevitably come into play but I want to keep an open mind as to the effect it has in situ in practice because it obviously isn’t the only criteria and with acem82’s example it’s highly likely that wind is more minor but that wouldn’t be true for every real-life situation. Regarding cobbles, that’s an extremely complex motion to analyse, you can call it bouncing or hopping or climbing or what you like but in reality it’s indescribable and only high precision analysis can tell you exactly how much of each effect is contributing for each rider at each speed and every tire pressure/behaviour, you will NEVER manage to say that one criteria alone governs the whole efficiency equation.Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Medical test should be mandatory before participationabstractengineer05-04-2025
- You are completely wrongvappaxbipmv05-04-2025
- Tadej has a little more chance. It will be an exciting race and the most important thing is that no one gets hurt.
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".maria2024202405-04-2025
- Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025