People fly. On bicycles. And almost silently. Scenes from New Year's Day 2020, from the GP Sven Nys cyclocross race in Belgium. The world's best cyclocross specialists battle it out for victory. But it's also about the show. Newcomer Tom Pidcock was already ahead of the proven air show expert and multiple cyclocross world champion Mathieu van der Poel in the unofficial posture scores for the tailwhips, the jumps with the wheel in a lateral position. The status quo is once again manifested in the results list: Dutchman van der Poel wins the prestigious cyclo-cross race, while Pidcock, four and a half years younger, comes third.
The super all-rounder trio in cycling: van der Poel, van Aert and Pidcock
But with his performance, the young Brit had visibly challenged the cross establishment. A year later, on deep terrain that did not allow for any flying manoeuvres, the result was: van der Poel ahead of Wout van Aert and Pidcock. "We push each other to a higher level," said van Aert in the TOUR interview in the late summer of 2018 about his many duels with van der Poel. Now they have also spurred Pidcock on with their duels. While the young pro in the Ineos Grenadiers jersey was still something of a junior partner in the triumvirate of all-rounders at the start of 2021, he has now drawn level: he was followed by 2021 Olympic victory on the mountain bike, 2022 in February Cyclocross world champion title and in summer the rousing Stage win in Alpe d'Huez at the Tour de France. Pidcock is now one of the three athletes who have taken cycling to a new level - at least in terms of versatility combined with entertainment value.
Professional cycling has now become a genuine all-round discipline: The trio are fighting in mud battles for the reputation of the world's best cross specialist, Pidcock and van der Poel are giving serial world champion Nino Schurter a run for his money in the battle for the mountain bike title, van der Poel and van Aert are now among the top contenders for victories at Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders every spring - all three are expected to win the rainbow jersey of the road world champion at some point. In the case of van Aert and Pidcock, the question has already been raised as to whether they could one day win the Tour de France.
New cycling generation, new thinking
Such successful versatility was long considered unthinkable in modern cycling. Until the pioneers of the new generation rejected all previous prohibitions. "These are exceptional talents - they all have a big engine," says Dan Lorang. The head coach of Team Bora-Hansgrohe estimates that all three have a maximum oxygen intake of 82 to 86 ml/kg/min. For comparison: Chris Froome had a value of 84 when he won the Tour in 2015. But the three cycling prodigies don't just bring a lot of enduring power to the pedals - much more than almost all of their professional colleagues. Their great physical disposition is one reason for this new development. But the biggest difference is that they can do even more. And the trio wants to show off their versatility on a regular basis.
"The racing drivers of the current generation tend to come with wishes and demands. In the past, as a youngster, you took a back seat," emphasises Lorang, adding that racing programmes like the trio's were once "not an option". Now the versatile top stars have brought about a change in thinking within a very short space of time.
The competition loses its laughter
It all began with an almost symbiotic success story: Christoph Roodhooft, who, together with his brother Philip, is head of the new World Tour racing team Alpecin-Deceuninck worked with van der Poel early on. His outstanding all-round talent was clear for all to see - thanks to the junior world championship titles in cyclo-cross and on the road. "It's always been there," says Roodhooft, referring to Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck and Adrie van der Poel, Mathieu's father. All of them were successful on the road and off-road. "But you have to be a top cyclocross racer if you want to switch to the road. It doesn't work the other way round," emphasises the team boss, who ran one of Belgium's strong cyclocross racing teams for many years.
However, the performance density has increased in all disciplines since the times of De Vlaeminck and van der Poel senior - the versatile performances today are much higher. "Ten or 15 years ago, the road teams laughed at cyclocross and didn't want cyclocross riders," recalls the Belgian team boss, "they were old-school road teams who believed that road racing was the only thing that mattered in cycling. We've always believed that you can combine disciplines because we like off-road cycling. Now many bike brands also see the advantage." Team Roodhooft-van der Poel thus became the avant-garde - followed by van Aert, who after years as a cross specialist quickly made the breakthrough as a classics specialist in road cycling.
"The potential was only recognised through their success," says Rolf Aldag, Head of Sport at the German team Bora-Hansgrohe. Potential also means that the whole thing falls on financially fertile ground. Companies that want to equip a top professional team with bicycles have to invest between 1.5 and 5 million euros - in addition to the material value for the up to 200 road and time trial bikes. When an athlete like van der Poel competes in world championships on the road, cyclocross, mountain biking and, more recently, in the gravel discipline with different types of bikes, his supplier Canyon is more than happy - especially as the trend is opening more doors: "Even the teams that are more conservative are now considering doing more in order to serve the sponsors," observes Andreas Walzer, who is responsible for working with the numerous professional teams and pros at bike manufacturer Canyon.
Fine body tuning is necessary
The big problem: the breathlessness caused by the constant change of disciplines throughout the year. The cyclocross season is underway while road cycling pros are generally on holiday or working on the basics. Mountain bike races can only be squeezed into narrow gaps in the packed road calendar during the summer. Regular starts are necessary for ranking points. "A body is conditionally happy about it. You can't do everything all the time," warns Aldag of the restlessness that hangs as a sword of Damocles over the all-rounder. In view of the increased power density in all disciplines, the super all-rounders need a bit of a run-up before they can run the specialists into the ground.
Although the professionals on the road today have fewer days on the road than in the past, it remains a balancing act between stress and recovery, in which the highly talented have to be protected from their own talent and ambition. Veteran specialists are left with nothing but astonishment in view of the year-round multiple workload. "I don't know how the boys do it either. I certainly wouldn't be able to reel off a programme like that. But I'm also pretty sure that van der Poel can't keep up the programme he's currently doing forever," said the now ten-time MTB world champion Nino Schurter on his rivals van der Poel and Pidcock in the mountain bike magazine BIKE.
Performance management in three cycling disciplines "a big puzzle"
Kurt Bogaerts, Pidcock's coach of many years, says that performance management in three disciplines is "a big puzzle". And the pieces don't always fit together perfectly. The past season has also shown the limits of the eternal eventing competition. "If your head is clear, none of this is a problem," claims Roodhooft. But woe betide you if your head or body resist the constant stress - as van der Poel did recently: more difficult Crash in Olympic mountain bike raceinjury problems and cancellation of the following cyclo-cross season. Victories at the Tour of Flanders and on a Giro stage were followed by abandonment at the Tour and the disaster at the end of the road season: after a late-night scuffle in the hotel, the rider abandoned the Tour. van der Poel wins the World Championship road race gave up after a few kilometres, exasperated. "It wasn't entirely unexpected that he had this freak-out in Australia - he's already under pressure," says Aldag.
The racing drivers of the current generation come up with demands and wishes early on. In the past, as a youngster, you were at the back of the queue. - Dan Lorang
Offensive, intense: races are driven differently
Pidcock also cancelled the road season prematurely. Nevertheless: "The plan is to continue with the three disciplines. It's a challenge for Tom, so he doesn't get bored. He has to get out of his comfort zone off-road - that makes him a better athlete," says his coach Bogaerts. And you can now see that the road races are being ridden in a similar way to cyclocross or mountain bike races: much earlier, offensively and in a man-to-man battle. "The classics, but also the Grand Tours, are now ridden very aggressively, very intensively. The off-road disciplines are shorter, but very intense - this has advantages for the style of riding on the road," emphasises the Pidcock coach. Another argument for combining the two.
Germany is lagging behind in this development. A young man from the Allgäu could change that: Emil Herzog won the Junior Road World Championships in impressive style - A few weeks earlier he had a Missed out on a medal at the Mountain Bike World Championships. "Maybe we already have the next Tom Pidcock," says Ralph Denk, who supported Herzog in his junior team Auto Eder and sees good prospects for his future in his company. World Tour racing team Bora-Hansgrohe sees. It seems that the new development has a longer-term future.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
