With Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert and Thibau Nys all opting for a day off, the organisers of the Gullegem Superprestige cyclocross race made a bold move to tempt Tadej Pogačar to ride their race on January 3.
Pogačar raced a Christmas cyclocross in Slovenia in 2021 and 2022 and was even the national champion in 2019. He also once told Cyclingnews that he was determined to ride the UCI Gravel World Championships, but his off-road racing dreams have always been halted by his road racing obligations.
"Don't forget that Tadej has also been a cyclocross rider," the UCI director of sport Peter Van den Abeele told Het Nieuwsblad in November as the sport lobbied to include cyclocross in the winter Olympics.
"It’s just that his team won’t let him. Otherwise, he would start racing right away."
The Gullegem organisers had the audacity to try to attract Pogačar to their race, but their efforts were soon stopped due to Pogačar attending a UAE Team Emirates-XRG training camp in January.
Pogačar's agent Alex Carera confirmed to Cyclingnews that the Gullegem organisers called him, but they had to refuse, so negotiations on an eventual fee never began.
Pogačar was reportedly paid €150,000 to ride the Andorra Masters criterium at the end of the 2025 season.
"We went looking for a different star name for our cyclocross. A really good rider, so to speak. That's a description that fits Tadej Pogačar," Stijn Tant admitted to Sporza.
"We thought: if you say no, you can get a yes. Ultimately, we were told no, because Pogačar was on a training camp at the time. So it didn't fit into his schedule.
"We felt we could offer a sum that was representative of someone like Tadej. But we didn't come to any really concrete agreements. Still, we must always believe in it. We've already made contact for next year."
Top 'cross stars Van der Poel, van Aert and Nys are clashing at different moments of the holiday cyclocross campaign, helping to drive interest and income for the races. However, all three have opted to take a day off on January 3 before clashing at the Zonhoven World Cup race in Belgium on January 4.
To make up for their absence, the Gullegem organisers have signed up a series of DJs and musicians and even created a specially built wooden après-ski style cow shed to allow the partying to continue late into the night, hours after the racing has finished.
"We're an enthusiastic organisation always looking for new things," Tant told Sporza
"For example, we're going to open a 'Kuhstall' [cow shed] where we'll combine cyclocross and après-ski."
