Mathieu Van der Poel started the season in his own way, winning. For now, we're only talking about cyclocross, but given the prospects, we expect the Dutchman to duel with Pogacar in the classics, as he did in 2025 at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix (both won by VDP).  

During the final cyclocross races, we again witnessed the duel between Van der Poel and Van Aert , and once again, the outcome was the same: Van der Poel dominated. In the final race in Mol , however, in the snow, Van Aert was holding his own before crashing and injuring his ankle, an injury that will likely sideline the Belgian for the first part of the road season.

We reconstructed the rivalry between Van der Poel and Van Aert, born in the mud of cyclocross, in a video available on our YouTube channel:  

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zydRBiO9OBc

Van der Poel, due to his rivalry with Van Aert and his victories, has never gained much sympathy in Belgium, and often, all this has resulted in unpleasant episodes , which have also put the safety of the Dutch rider at risk.

This is a piece of content you won't want to miss, just like the others we'll be offering you with the start of the cycling and Fantacycling season . Stay tuned!