Belgian Stars Cross Over

BRECHT DECALUWÉ Van Aert risks cyclo-cross stardom for Classics mediocrity

Last cyclo-cross season – 2016/17 – Wout Van Aert gave us a ding-dong battle with his arch-rival, Mathieu van der Poel. The duo dominated the sport and provided splendid action all season long. Those that don’t like cyclo-cross probably claimed every race was the same: 60 riders at the start, Van Aert and Van der Poel take an early lead and then one of them winning. But it was more nuanced than that. The two young bucks pushed each other to the limit and were ready to exploit the smallest error. Races were decided by tiny differences: a difficult pedal stroke, a poor passage in the sand, a better approach to the final climb, maybe a mechanical… It was edge-of-the-seat stuff.

How cyclo-cross fans were spoiled. The 20172018 season has been different. Van Aert has failed to match Van der Poel and the races have been boring to watch. At the time of writing the scoreboard in the major events shows Mathieu 16 - Wout 4. It’s such a comedown after the drama of last year. The reason? Van Aert claims his rival is simply going even faster. But here’s another reason: Van Aert is on a different mental track and training schedule.

It must be hard being Wout Van Aert. Young and extremely talented but racing in a sport whose ripples barely reach beyond the Flemish border. Maybe outsiders know the Flemish go crazy for cross. Perhaps they’ve heard of the legend of Sven Nys. But that interest does not extend to Van Aert and his talent. He is not getting the credit he deserves.

Van Aert knows this. Even in Belgium, the media continually ask him about his road ambitions, especially after his impressive campaign last summer. In fact, both cyclo-cross’s leading lights showed their class at races on the Europe Tour in 2017. They doled out humiliation to their road-going competitors in races like the Boucles de la Mayenne, GP Pino Cerami and Dwars door het Hageland.