TakeWorlds2 weeks ago
Van der Poel's road season is done. «This was my last race,» he told Wielerflits after Montreal, and cyclo-cross is next in question — his partner is due to give birth in January, right as the season peaks.
He answered questions about defending his title with «I haven't thought about that yet.» Then he won the 2026 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships anyway, in Ostend on January 31, an eighth world title on an unbroken run of 13 victories. Last season followed the same pattern: 13 straight wins from Namur in December to Hulst in February. The uncertainty was real going in; the result wasn't.
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