Once the final races have been run, it’s not simply a case of the stars taking a long break. Everyone spends the off-season in their own way, and hardly anyone is thinking solely of relaxation.
Every autumn, the same question arises in the cafés around the Belgian cyclo-cross circuits: when are they coming? The question refers to the big names who win the Monuments and Grand Tours in the summer and, in the winter – or at least they used to – reliably plough their way through sand and mud. This year, the answer is more varied than ever. That’s because the pros’ off-season is no longer a standard ritual involving a few weeks’ holiday followed by a training camp. It depends on how the body feels, on the calendar, and sometimes on family life.
Mathieu van der Poel: A chance to recover during the off-season?
The biggest unanswered question of the winter is worn by the Alpecin rider. Van der Poel has confirmed that the World Championships in Canada were his last road race of 2026, where he won bronze. Whether he will compete in cyclo-cross races afterwards remains to be seen. After the World Championships, he said he had focused entirely on that race and had not yet decided on his winter plans. Added to this is a reason that is more important than any prize money: Van der Poel and his partner are expecting a baby, due in January, which is likely to influence his decision.
In sporting terms, he has nothing left to prove in cyclo-cross anyway. Having won his eighth World Championship title last winter in Hulst, he is now the sole record-holder, one title ahead of Erik De Vlaeminck. Back in the spring, he had already hinted that he would be considering a winter without cyclo-cross – particularly with a view to the road season – in order to allow himself more rest. The Belgian former world champion Paul Herygers sums up the situation: Van der Poel has left the scene with a question mark “as big as a lorry”. The ones who suffer are his rivals, who may be training hard, only to find out that Van der Poel is on the starting line after all, meaning first place is almost certainly out of reach.
Wout van Aert: First the suitcase, then cyclo-cross
His long-standing rival has long since made up his mind, at least in broad terms. Of course he’ll be back on the cyclo-cross, Van Aert said after the World Championships, but for now the bike is going into his suitcase – he’s off on holiday. He needs this break during the off-season: in his own words, he’d already run out of steam four or five laps before the end of the World Championships.
The fact that the Belgian still wants to get back out into the mud is down to his passion. Cyclo-cross remains his first love, which is why he is happy to return every winter, as he said a year ago. He recently experienced first-hand just how risky this love can be: during a He broke his ankle in a fall in Mol in early 2026 and had to undergo surgery, which brought his cyclo-cross season to an abrupt end and also affected his road season. We can therefore expect another compact programme around the festive period, as he himself has said that the Christmas period in cyclo-cross is the phase he enjoys the most. A Cyclo-cross World Championship without Van der Poel would also present a rare opportunity to win the title.
Tom Pidcock: A Farewell in Stages
Of the former trio who shaped cyclo-cross for years, the Briton is the one who has drifted furthest away from the sport. Pidcock is sitting out his third winter in a row; he rode his last cyclo-cross race in January 2024 at the World Cup in Benidorm. He is willing to return on one condition only: should cyclo-cross become an Olympic sport, he would compete again. However, that very hope has been dashed for the time being, as the IOC decided in May that the discipline would not feature at the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.
He certainly won’t be getting bored, though. After winning the XCO World Championship title in 2026, he hinted that he would be taking a break from mountain biking in 2027 and returning in 2028 with his sights set on a third Olympic gold. And whilst others were already lounging on the beach, he was still in the saddle: Pidcock competed in the Tour of Guangxi for the first time, which took place in China from 13 to 18 October.
Tadej Pogačar: The enforced break
For the dominant rider of recent years, the off-season began earlier than he would have liked. In a crash on the eighth stage of the Vuelta on 29 August, he fractured his collarbone and a cervical vertebra, and also suffered a concussion. A few days later UAE declared the season over – and at the same time extended his contract until 2032.
Pogačar is now back on his bike. His partner, Urška Žigart, shared photos of their training rides together near Ljubljana, where he was visiting family and friends. He is expected to take a holiday first and then travel to Abu Dhabi on 31 October for the UAE Team event. What comes next is particularly noteworthy: Pogačar intends to start his preparations for 2027 a month earlier than usual. He is therefore turning this enforced break into an opportunity to begin his pre-season preparations earlier.
Jonas Vingegaard: The family man
Pogačar’s main rival, too, has been out of action for weeks. Following his Giro victory in May, Vingegaard crashed on the 15th stage of the Tour and will not be racing again this season. For the Dane, however, this break from racing has a significance that goes beyond his rehabilitation. Over the summer, he spoke openly about how he had considered retiring the previous year and found the long periods away from his family difficult to bear, which is why the team has changed its approach.
For Vingegaard, therefore, winter is primarily a time spent at home, with a clearly defined goal: he wants to prepare as thoroughly as possible for his targets for 2027 and discuss these with the team in the near future. He learnt at the start of the year that even the traditional winter training camp in the south has its pitfalls: near Málaga, he crashed on a descent whilst trying to shake off an amateur cyclist who was following him.
Florian Lipowitz and Red Bull: Winter as a familiar home
That leaves the third major pillar of the off-season: the training camp. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe demonstrated just how intense this can be a year ago in Mallorca, when Remco Evenepoel completed almost a full lap of the island – 244 kilometres – at an average speed of 40.5 km/h during the December camp. For him in particular, winter is a sensitive issue; after all, a training accident in December 2024 had delayed his 2025 season.
For the team’s best German stage racer, however, winter has a story all of its own. Florian Lipowitz comes from a sport in which the cold months are peak season: he took up biathlon at the age of eight, became German champion whilst still at school and was part of the national squad. His former coach in Stams recalls that Lipowitz still holds the record there for prone shooting. He’ll probably be able to put on his cross-country skis now and then, but, like most professionals, he’ll likely not be able to avoid a training camp.
One winter, many paths
Whether it’s mud, nappy changes, kilometres on Mallorca or cross-country skiing: the pros’ off-season no longer follows the textbook. There’s just one thing they all have in common: personal freedom seems to be part of a genuine recipe for success these days. And yet, their sights are already set on the future. By 22 October at the latest, when the route for the 2027 Tour de France is unveiled in Paris, the stars will know what they’ll be enduring this winter.
Leon Weidner
Editor