Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pidcock go head-to-head at Cyclocross Hulst World Cup

The first battle of the cyclocross winter between Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and World Champion Tom Pidcock may have it's date already set, as the organizers of the Hulst World Cup, set to take place on the 27th of December, has confirmed that they should all be at the start.

The organizer of the Dutch race Kurt Vernimmen has said in an interview with Omroep Zeeland that “I have spoken to the managers of Mathieu and Wout and they have said they are coming, but you never know for sure. They can suddenly have other obligations, but we assume that they will appear at the start."

Last year the Dutch race was also in the World Cup calendar, where Tom Pidcock took the win, followed by Eli Iserbyt and Lars van der Haar on the day. Whilst Pidcock is likely to return to the discipline at the Superprestige Merksplas (19th November), van der Poel and van Aert do not yet have a date decided as they look to recover from a long season on the road.

"Normally you have the youth first and then at the end of the afternoon the professionals with the women and men, but the cycling associations and the Belgian TV channel Sporza have decided this way," he concluded. Currently Eli Iserbyt leads the World Cup after four rounds, followed by Laurens Sweeck and Michael Vanthourenhout.