Mathieu van der Poel is an icon of the cyclocross discipline, first lighting up the mud as an exciting junior to becoming a five-time World Champion in 2023, but the multi-discipline superstar is unsure how much longer he’ll race in CX without much left to win.
The Dutchman has come a long way since his first cyclocross world title in 2015, becoming a dominant Classics star on the road and reaching the sport's pinnacle with the road world title this past summer in Glasgow.
Coinciding with this has come a change to his cyclocross calendars from his early years when he and Wout van Aert built their long-standing rivalry on the muddy Belgian courses, which has continued onto the roads of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
Both have announced limited schedules for the remainder of the 2023-24 cross season, perhaps signalling a winding-down of their cyclocross careers.
“The thought of focusing on one discipline crosses my mind,” Van der Poel tells WielerFlits’ RIDE Magazine. “We have already discussed it within the team. I don't know how long I'll keep racing. An occasional winter without cyclo-cross would also be nice.
“Not only to no longer take risks with my back, but also because I actually do cross-country purely for fun. And of course, the [cyclocross] world title is still an important goal. I actually see the rest of the season more as a winter activity. There is no longer much for me to gain in terms of sport.”
The back injury Van der Poel speaks of is still from his crash in the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics, admitting last season that it may remain his Achilles heel. Since then it has flared up during cyclocross seasons gone by and forced him to cut his 2021-22 cross season short.
To Van der Poel’s surprise, it didn’t come to bother him on the road where he reached new heights in 2023 with two Monument victories at Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix and the World title, but he’s unsure of how it will hold up going forward.
“My back will always remain a point of work,” Van der Poel said. “On the road I have that injury well under control. Actually, I have hardly experienced any problems and last year I had the best road season of my career.
“Now that I'm focusing on cross-country again for the winter months, we have to wait and see how that back will hold up. That uncertainty will always remain.”
Van der Poel will kick off his cyclocross season on December 22 at the Exact Cross round in Mol, with six appearances at the Cyclocross World Cup on his schedule before he defends his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Tabor in February.
To fans' delight, he’ll face off with Van Aert for six huge battles during the coming cross races in Mol, the World Cup rounds in Antwerp, Gavere and Hulst and two rounds of the X2O Troffee series in Baal and Koksijde.
