by
The 2024/25 Cyclocross is underway. However, the discipline’s three biggest stars, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock, have yet to return to the field and the exact date of their presence will be felt even less clearly.
In the latest episode of Eurosport’s Kop over Kop podcast, the winter prospects of the so-called cyclocross “Big 3” were discussed. The question, however, is: Do the “Big 3” of cyclocross still exist? “Is Pidcock still on this list?” Sander Valentijn asks his colleagues loudly. “Last year there was actually only one big one,” replies Jeroen Vanbelleghem, pointing to Van der Poel’s overwhelming dominance last winter.
As already mentioned, Pidcock’s high reputation in particular is questioned by experts. The 2022 World Championship winner took just one win in his eight outings last winter and enters this year’s cyclocross calendar marred by controversy following recent public drama with the INEOS Grenadiers after being dropped from the Il Lombardia- The team’s lineup had been excluded.
“Nobody knows at Pidcock. If the wind comes from the left, it could last a whole season. If the wind comes from the right, it won’t move at all. It’s difficult with his team, but I think he still decides for himself what he wants to do and what he’s going to do,” says former professional Thijs van Amerongen. “After last year, you can’t say Pidcock is still there (the Big 3 edition).”
However, the Brit’s star power would greatly benefit the sport of cyclocross this winter, emphasizes Vanbelleghem, especially given the uncertainty surrounding Van der Poel and Van Aert’s racing programs. “I don’t think Van der Poel and his team know it yet, so we can’t know either. I suspect that he doesn’t feel like it at all now, but in December he will do two or three races for the world championship. “With Van Aert I expect ten or twelve races and with Pidcock I really don’t know,” he concludes. “I hope that he will really do a lot of cross-country racing because he is an asset to the sport.”
=https://twitter.com/UCI_CX/status/1487904044173701124″ data-service=”twitter”>
