4 opportunities to see Van der Poel vs Van Aert this CX season

After last week's announcement of Wout van Aert's cyclocross calendar and today's revelation of the races in which Mathieu van der Poel will compete, we can now mark dates to know which will be the hottest days of the current cyclocross season.

Save the dates: Mol, Loenhout, Dendermonde, and Maasmechelen key days of the CX season

One Superprestige race, another Exact Cross race, and two CX World Cup races. Those are the only 4 dates on which we will be able to see the two greatest cyclists of the last decade of cyclocross compete face to face. Something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago when their rivalry from lower categories made us thrill with exciting duels every weekend.

However, times have changed and both cyclists have gradually prioritized their road seasons, leaving cyclocross as little more than a winter pastime to do some good quality training, which has not prevented both of them from remaining, by far, the best cyclocross riders on the international scene.

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Mathieu van der Poel's debut this season will take place in the iconic Zonhoven race with its sand pits where the Dutchman moves like a fish in water, a race that this year is once again part of the CX World Cup. However, it will not be until the next day, with the dispute of the Mol Superprestige, on Monday December 23, another of the mythical races on the calendar and already in the midst of the Christmas marathon of races when Wout van Aert will debut and both cyclists will face each other for the first time this season.

We won't have to wait long for the next showdown, which will also take place within the Christmas campaign, specifically on Friday, December 27, the day when both cyclists will take part in the Exact Cross race in Loenhout.

After this, we will have to wait until the eve of Three Kings Day when on Sunday, January 5 the CX World Cup race in Dendermonde will take place. Then, there will only be one more showdown between them for which we will have to wait several weeks, specifically until Sunday, January 25 when the CX World Cup race in Maasmechelen will take place, a race that takes place just a week before the World Championships but will mark the end of the mud campaign for Wout van Aert who will seek to repeat last year's plan and prepare meticulously for the cobbled classics trying to make up for last year's disappointment.

List of Wout van Aert vs Mathieu van der Poel showdowns. 2024/25 CX season

• Monday, December 23 - Superprestige Mol
• Friday, December 27 - Exact Cross Loenhout
• Sunday, January 5 - CX World Cup Dendermonde
• Sunday, January 25 - CX World Cup Maasmechelen