{"id":296748,"date":"2025-11-21T03:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T03:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/296748\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T03:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T03:21:13","slug":"cyclocross-world-cup-opens-with-big-3-era-winding-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/296748\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclocross World Cup opens with ‘Big 3’ era winding down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published November 20, 2025 08:38AM<\/p>\n

The \u201cBig 3\u201d of modern cyclocross \u2014 Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>, Wout van Aert<\/a> and Tom Pidcock<\/a> \u2014 are keeping things light and tight ahead of the 2025-26 World Cup<\/a> racing season that kicks off this weekend.<\/p>\n

The full UCI World Cup calendar resumes this weekend at T\u00e1bor, and the peloton\u2019s three biggest crossover stars continue to be selective in which events they\u2019ll dip into as things heat up in the mud.<\/p>\n

Things are looking more competitive on the women\u2019s side for this winter, but Fem van Empel<\/a> looks to be doing her best MVDP impression with three world titles in a row.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s field, the winter circus is no longer the essential launchpad it once was for the \u201cbigs\u201d who\u2019ve dominated the sport for the past decade.<\/p>\n

Van Aert and Van der Poel will parachute in for select, high-prestige \u2014 read: high-paying \u2014 races, while Pidcock isn\u2019t expected to dirty his cleats in the Belgian mud at all this year.<\/p>\n

That will open the door for a whole slew of names, like Thibau Nys<\/a> and a cadre of established Belgian and Dutch CX brawlers, to chase the spoils across the World Cup and the Superprestige and X\u00b2O Trofee series.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel: Chasing record rainbows
\n\"VanVan der Poel is Mr. February when it comes to the CX stripes. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The modern King of Cross has only one thing on his mind this winter: Win a record eighth world title in cyclocross.<\/p>\n

MVDP is tied with Erik De Vlaeminck, who held the long-standing men\u2019s record when he reeled them off between 1966 and 1973.<\/p>\n

So far, the Dutch mud royal has yet to confirm his 2025-26 CX calendar. He is expected to return to CX in mid-December, and race across much of the dramatic and crowd-favorite \u201cKerstperiode\u201d packed in between Christmas and New Year\u2019s in Belgium.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, Van der Poel will be building toward the date he has circled on his calendar: February 1 at the CX world championships in Hulst, Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Van Aert: Compact primer
\n\"VanVan Aert is targeting a select few CX events. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Van Aert continues his shift toward a minimalist cross program.<\/p>\n

Visma-Lease a Bike has yet to confirm the Belgian\u2019s 2025-26 calendar. Last year, he started just six CX races at Mol, Loenhout, Gullegem, Dendermonde, Benidorm, and Maasmechelen, and is expected to follow a similar program.<\/p>\n

Like last year, the worlds will be a late-season decision.<\/p>\n

Van Aert has returned to training after his off-season break that included shooting hoops with Reggie Miller and catching some American football games during a California vacation.<\/p>\n

Like Van der Poel, his presence at any CX race remains a box-office draw.<\/p>\n

These two mega-stars are the motors that see hordes of fans pile into the muddy, beer-sogged pits to cheer on what\u2019s likely to be just a few head-to-head clashes this season.<\/p>\n

Pidcock: MIA again
\n\"TomPidcock isn\u2019t expected to race any CX this winter. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Among the \u201cBig 3\u201d trio, Pidcock\u2019s CX season is the most uncertain.<\/p>\n

So far it\u2019s been crickets out of the Pidcock camp about his 2025-26 ambitions, but the expectation is just like last year he will sit this one out.<\/p>\n

His breakout 2025 road racing campaign, one that saw Pidders winning his first road GC title and finishing third at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, only stokes expectations for 2026.<\/p>\n

The newly bolstered Q36.5 Pro Cycling, which acquired some WorldTour-level muscle over the winter, should set the team on track to start its first Tour de France this summer.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the team doesn\u2019t want him risking an injury or burning unnecessary matches too early in the season.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s \u2018Big 3\u2019 ready to lock horns
\n\"women'sVan Empel has won the past three rainbow jerseys. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The \u201cBig 3\u201d phenomenon is repeating itself across women\u2019s CX as well.<\/p>\n

Fem Van Empel, Lucinda Brand, and Puck Pieterse are splitting the spoils of the big dates between them, and things look set for a repeat in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Van Empel has given up road racing and is fully pivoted back to the mud full-time. That could be bad news for her rivals. She already owns two wins this season and will be racing full tilt to win a fourth world title in a row.<\/p>\n

She still has a ways to go to match Marianne Vos, who holds the absolute record with eight world titles in the mud.<\/p>\n

Nipping at her heels are Brand and Pieterse, who have shared the world\u2019s podium behind Van Empel the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

Pieterse is expected to ease into the CX season, with an eye on a February peak.<\/p>\n

Brand is off to a ripping start in the early CX races, winning seven of her first nine starts, with second in the other two. Dutch rising star and national teammate Inge van der Heijden beat her for the Euro crown this month.<\/p>\n

Shirin van Anrooij and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado continue to anchor the unstoppable Dutch wave, while a whole slew of rising Belgian talent could see a breakthrough this season. U23 world champ Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt is hoping to ruin the Benelux party.<\/p>\n

Worlds vs. World Cup
\n\"CXIt\u2019s the world title that counts most for the top riders. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Of course, the compact 12-round World Cup series and world championships are entirely different beasts.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s \u201cBig 3\u201d have monopolized the stripes for more than a decade and have split the past 11 elite men\u2019s rainbow jerseys between them.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel is on track to win a record eighth this winter if he stays upright and healthy. Honestly, who can beat him?<\/p>\n

Van Aert owns three sets of stripes and Pidcock one. No one else has won the elite men\u2019s rainbow jersey since Zdenek Stybar in 2014.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s World Cup, Van Aert has won three titles since 2015, Van der Poel only one, and Pidcock never.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious it\u2019s the one-day glory of the stripes that\u2019s more alluring than the season-long slug for points of the World Cup series. Van der Poel and Van Aert will only start a handful at best.<\/p>\n

The story repeats itself in women\u2019s racing, with Van Empel emerging as a modern-day world throttler, with three titles in a row. Brand, a winner in 2021, is out to prove experience counts.<\/p>\n

Opening the door for Nys and more
\n\"Nys\"Nys is hoping for another step up in depth this CX season. (Photo: JASPER JACOBS\/BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In that void steps a slate of riders hoping to win the spoils, especially in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Thibau Nys is first in line. He has already flipped down the mud flaps with two wins, first at the X\u00b2O Koppenberg Cross in November and another at the X\u00b2O Flandriencross last weekend.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s confirmed a 22-race CX calendar that will mix selected World Cup and the X\u00b2O and Superprestige dates, and ends in February at the CX worlds.<\/p>\n

Other up-and-comers include Cameron Mason, the three-time British CX champion, who\u2019s already hit podiums this season. Two-time U23 world champ Tibor Del Grosso is already on a blazing start with eight wins, and will be keen to test himself against the grizzled veterans.<\/p>\n

Established pros like Lars van der Haar, Laurens Sweeck, Eli Iserbyt, Joris Nieuwenhuis, recently crowned European CX champ Toon Aerts, and Michael Vanthourenhout will keep scratching their way onto podiums all season long.<\/p>\n

UCI World Cup cyclocross 2025\u20132026 schedule<\/p>\n

T\u00e1bor \u2013 23 November
\nFlamanville \u2013 30 November
\nTerralba \u2013 7 December
\nNamur \u2013 14 December
\nAntwerpen \u2013 20 December
\nKoksijde \u2013 21 December
\nGavere \u2013 26 December
\nDendermonde \u2013 28 December
\nZonhoven \u2013 4 January
\nBenidorm \u2013 18 January
\nMaasmechelen \u2013 24 January
\nHoogerheide \u2013 25 January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published November 20, 2025 08:38AM The \u201cBig 3\u201d of modern cyclocross \u2014 Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,133553,82,133554,133555,133556,75783,133557,54267],"class_list":{"0":"post-296748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-parent_category-cyclocross","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tag-cyclocross","14":"tag-tag-fem-van-empel","15":"tag-tag-lucinda-brand","16":"tag-tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","17":"tag-tag-puck-pieterse","18":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}