Mathieu van der Poel wants to compete in a total of 14 cyclo-cross races this winter. The race programme originally published by his team Alpecin-Deceuninck at the beginning of November initially included 13 competitions. However, on 10 December, the team announced that van der Poel would open his 2023/24 cyclocross season at the X20 Trofee in Herentals on 16 December.
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Six days later, his second race will be the Exact Cross in Mol. The following day, the Dutchman will compete in the World Cup race in Antwerp and then in Gavere on Boxing Day. Further World Cup races await van der Poel in Hulst (30.12.), Zonhoven (07.01.), Benidorm (21.01.) and Hoogerheide (28.01.).
Mathieu van der Poel's 2023/24 cyclocross racing programme
- 16/12/2023 X20 Trofee Herentals (Belgium)
- 22.12.2023 Exact Cross Mol (Belgium)
- 23.12.2023 World Cup Antwerp (Belgium)
- 26.12.2023 World Cup Gavere (Belgium)
- 28.12.2023 Superprestige Diegem (Belgium)
- 29.12.2023 Exact Cross Loenhout (Belgium)
- 30.12.2023 World Cup Hulst (Netherlands)
- 01.01.2024 X20 Baal (Belgium)
- 04/01/2024 X20 Koksijde (Belgium)
- 07.01.2024 World Cup Zonhoven (Belgium)
- 21.01.2024 World Cup Benidorm (Spain)
- 27/01/2024 X20 Hamme (Belgium)
- 28.01.2024 World Cup Hoogerheide (Netherlands)
- 04.02.2024 World Championships Tabor (Czech Republic)
The highlight and finale of van der Poel's cyclocross season, which ended with a new Canyon Inflite The World Championships are scheduled for 4 February in Tabor, Czech Republic. The Dutchman would like to defend his title there. It would be van der Poels' sixth World Championship triumph in total. He last won in a duel between the cyclo-cross giants in 2023 narrowly against his arch-rival Wout van Aert in Hoogerheide. The two exceptional talents have a long-standing rivalry that goes back to their youth.
Van der Poel vs. van Aert: The rivalry in photos
For van der Poel, success at the 2023 Cyclocross World Championships was the start of an outstanding season. This was followed by victories at Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Road World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Belgian van Aert has also announced his cyclocross racing programme, just like Tom Pidcockthe third of the three great all-rounders in cycling, who are always involved in thrilling battles in cyclocross races.
