Antwerp will host the first round of the cyclocross World Cup next Sunday. The cross season has been going on for almost seven weeks, but world champion Mathieu van der Poel and opponent Wout van Aert, the two greatest cyclocrossers, are still AWOL. Their return is imminent, so why is it taking so long for us to learn about their programs? WielerFlits has been looking at this.
The Dutch website interviewed the teams Alpecin-Deceuninck and Visma | Lease a Bike, as well as Christophe Impens from race organizer Golazo. They organise the X2O Trophy, Exact Crosses, and various Superprestige rounds.
“We are not yet working on Wout and Mathieu at all”, says Impens. “Their managers know that they are more than welcome on our crosses. They know our calendar. We are quietly waiting to see what they decide together with their coaches, about where they are going to cross. We don’t make deals with those men either. They say: ‘I’m going to cross there and not there’.”
“Usually Wout and Mathieu are fair to keep the church in the middle of the village. That is, that they are visible everywhere once in all standings”, the Golazo boss continued. “We hear from Wout that he will cross, but it still depends on the recovery of his injury (his knee in the Vuelta). Nobody really knows anything about Mathieu. The Roodhooft brothers also said: ‘we don’t know ourselves yet’. If there is one party that I am sure is sincere and transparent, it is them. They are not sure how and whether yet, they’re not going to lie about that.”
That’s why we decided to question both teams what’s behind the program’s perceived delay. Van Aert is presently training in Spain, attempting to get as prepared as possible for the next winter and road season. A lot of matches have already been scheduled; the only question now is which one will be the first.
This depends on how Van Aert finishes his current training camp. “The decision regarding his program will follow after his training camp in Spain; that will be in early December”, a spokesman said. But at least he has announced that the Belgian will cross.
Alpecin-Deceuninck has not yet communicated about the winter plans of their leader, who himself previously openly doubted them. But the Van der Poel camp said that there will be more clarity in the course of next week. To be continued, but the cross fans don’t have to wait long for an answer if and where we get duels between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert again. Last winter they crossed each other seven times from 22 December to 21 January: MVDP won the first six, Van Aert was the best in the last in Benidorm.
Tadej Pogačar is grossly underpaid.
Tadej Pogačar has signed a new deal with UAE Team Emirates. The world’s greatest cyclist will now get 8 million euros each year, minus bonuses. A significant sum, but Tejay van Garderen does not believe it is sufficient. The former professional, who is currently a DS with EF Education-EasyPost, argues in the podcast Beyond the Podium by NBC Sports that Pogačar is significantly underpaid.
“It is time that the boys get the respect they deserve,” Van Garderen, fifth in the Tour de France in 2012 and 2014, responds to Pogačar’s salary increase. “But I still say that Tadej Pogačar, if you look at what he brings to the sport as a star, is seriously underpaid. Compare it to the NBA. For the amount that Pogačar receives, you might get a bench player there. The best NBA player, Steph Curry, gets 45 million (US $) per year. I understand that it is difficult to compare, but still…”
“Pogačar earns more than Chris Froome and Peter Sagan when I was still racing. They earned maybe four, five million a year. So yes, this is a big step. But that was in 2012 or 2013. At that time, Kobe Bryant was the best basketball player, who earned about 25 million. Now that amount has risen to 45 million…”
In the podcast, Van Garderen also talks about possibilities to increase the revenues for riders and teams, so that it goes more towards the level of ball sports. “I don’t know exactly what cycling has to do to catch up, but you can’t say that there are not enough viewers. In July (during the Tour de France) there is plenty of room: the whole world watches cycling.”
“If I were Tadej, I would ask the organisers: how much do you benefit if I start? And then I would make my participation conditional on me getting five percent of the TV revenue. Or maybe the team should do that. Then the teams might get a share of the revenue that they don’t see now.”
In January this year, La Gazzetta dello Sport published a list of top earners in cycling. Pogačar was already at the top of the list at the time. In second place at the time was Primoz Roglič, who is said to be earning 4.5 million euros per year at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe in 2024 and 2025. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) followed on the list with an estimated annual salary of 4 million euros. The Dutchman, like Pogačar, recently extended his contract. It is unknown how much Van der Poel currently earns, also because the bonus conditions were not included in La Gazzetta’s list. The top ten of La Gazzetta from January also included Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers).
Remco Evenepoel is in California for wind tunnel testing.
Remco Evenepoel is now well into his preparations for the upcoming season. The Soudal Quick-Step rider is now in California, conducting wind tunnel experiments with his bike sponsor, Specialized.
Evenepoel’s two Strava posts indicate that the 24-year-old rider is now in the United States. The double Olympic champion ran about 10 km on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. He achieved this in Morgan Hill, which is located south of San Francisco. His Soudal Quick-Step partner, Tim Merlier, was also present. Het Nieuwsblad said that the two Belgians are currently in California for wind tunnel testing and commercial activity.
Evenepoel hopes to make some more aerodynamic improvements at the Innovation Center of Specialized, the American bicycle manufacturer of his Soudal Quick-Step team. Last year, the Tour rider was also spotted in the wind tunnel in Morgan Hill. At that time, he combined this with a holiday with his partner Oumi.
It is not yet known what Evenepoel’s program will look like in 2025. He did, however, announce that he will not be making his debut in the Tour of Flanders next year. “Milan-Sanremo is still an option, depending on whether Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice are chosen. We haven’t actually talked about specific programs yet. We have talked about ideas and goals,” he said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.
