If, like me, you’ve been glued to the cyclo-cross this winter (apologies family and friends), then you will have noted the contrasting fortunes of the two superstars of the men’s side of the sport: Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.
Jumbo-Visma rider Van Aert has been in imperious form, dominating each of his five cyclo-cross starts this season, including back-to-back solo wins in Dendermonde and Zolder over the Christmas holidays.
Van der Poel, on the other hand, had been sidelined with a knee injury sustained in an innocuous training crash, and while his performance and second place behind his Belgian rival on Sunday (his first cyclo-cross race of the season) sparked hopes for some spectacular showdowns over the next month, he faded dramatically the following day in Zolder and failed to finish.
A recurring back injury, described by the Dutchman’s Alpecin-Fenix team as "a swelling on an intervertebral disc", also means Van der Poel will miss the next few races over the new year, and possibly the rest of the cyclo-cross season.
While injury may well rule Van der Poel out of January’s world championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Van Aert is remaining tight-lipped over his own plans to race for the rainbow jersey, after his coach Marc Lamberts claimed that his rider might skip the Worlds to better prepare for the spring classics on the road.
As things stand heading into 2022, the biggest event in cyclo-cross might, for very different reasons, be missing its two biggest names. Step forward Tom Pidcock, perhaps?
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It will show how far away he was from the pinch point you say was in play.
Personal anecdote?