Van der Poel fancies his chances over Van Aert at Cyclocross Worlds

Mathieu Van Der Poel in action
Mathieu Van Der Poel in action (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel has predicted that he has a 50-50 chance of beating eternal cyclocross rival Wout van Aert at next weekend’s UCI Cyclocross World Championships, suggesting the weather and their form on the day will decide who pulls on the rainbow jersey. 

As Wielerflits recalled recently, Van der Poel and Van Aert have clashed ten times at the cyclocross Worlds, first as juniors in 2012 when the Dutchman won the title and then again in 2014, when Van Aert won the Under 23 title. They have fought in seven different elite races, with Van der Poel winning four titles to Van Aert’s three.      

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.