"You watch the cyclocross to see the stars ride, don't you?" - Roger De Vlaeminck excited for Van Aert & Van der Poel's return to the field

So far this winter, the cyclocross season has been played out without the discipline's 'Big 3' of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock. Although the racing has been exciting, in the opinion of 1975 cyclocross world champion Roger De Vlaeminck, the absence of the big names has left a mark.

“At the moment there are five of them evenly matched," analyses the Belgian cycling legend in his analysis of the ongoing cyclocross season to date, for Het Nieuwsblad. "Eli Iserbyt, Laurens Sweeck, Toon Aerts, Michael Vanthourenhout or Thibau Nys, they can all win. Iserbyt is my favourite, he always tries to make a race.”

As mentioned though, without the superstars of the sport involved, De Vlaeminck does find the action a bit lesser than in previous campaigns. "I understand that there are people who find it more exciting without Van der Poel and Van Aert, but in the end you watch the cyclocross to see the stars ride, don't you?" the 77-year-old Belgian questions.

Although Wout van Aert recently announced his programme for this winter, targeting six races in total, starting on December 23rd at Zilvermeercross Mol and concluding on January 25th at the UCI World Cup Maasmechelen, the winter schedule of Mathieu van der Poel remains unclear. Regardless on road racing intentions though, Van der Poel would be amiss to forget his cyclocross roots according to De Vlaeminck.

"Your best years as a rider, that's the cleanest time of your life. When Van der Poel is as old as I am, he will realise that too," assesses De Vlaeminck in conclusion, urging the Dutchman to enjoy the media attention. "That's part of being a good rider. Now they can change in their own campervan, can't they? With us it was still with three bikes on the roof to the cross and then ringing the bell somewhere to ask if you could change inside."