Cyclocross Check-In: Why Has Wout van Aert Been So Dominant This Season?

Plus, does his run of impressive results foreshadow a shift in the Van Aert/Van der Poel/Pidcock power structure on the road?

With the top-level Cyclocross season taking a short break and the major contenders away in Spain for pre-season road training camps with their respective teams, we have time to take a moment to pause and evaluate an interesting phenomenon that has come into sharper and sharper focus over the last few weeks, which is Wout Van Aert simply dominating his two top rivals, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, at nearly every turn. And, perhaps even more terrifying is that he is doing all of this while looking a few kilograms over his ideal racing weight and like he has a few more levels to reach before he reaches his full road season fitness.

This sudden emergence of Van Aert as far-and-away the most dominant Cyclocross racer on the planet isn’t totally unexpected. After all, the superstar Belgian has been a three-time World Champion in the past. But, the margin of victory and the ease by which the wins are coming to him is surprising, especially since we’ve seen thrilling three-way battles between the discipline’s three big stars, Wout van Aert (World Champion 2016-2018), Mathieu van der Poel (World Champion 2019-2021), and Tom Pidcock (World Champion 2022), over the last few seasons.

While I plan to do a more in-depth breakdown of each rider’s ‘cross season performances after the World Championships in early February and how it may affect their performance in the upcoming Spring Classics, I wanted to take a quick look at the win tallies so far and dive into reasons why this sudden shift might have happened and whether it can potentially tell us about a coming shift in the balance of power between three of the sport’s most exciting one-day/stage-winning road racing stars.

Van Aert/Van der Poel/Pidcock Recent Cyclocross Head-to-Head Results

Jan 8th: World Cup Zonhoven: 1st: Wout, 2nd: Van der Poel: [Gap: 1’23]

Jan 5th: X20 Koksijde: 1st: Van Aert, 2nd: Van der Poel: [Gap: 1’38]

Jan 3rd: X2O Badkamers Trofee - Herentals: 1st: Van der Poel, 2nd: Van Aert 2nd: [Gap: ‘21]

Dec 30th: Azencross – Loenhout: 1st: Van Aert, 2nd: Van der Poel [Gap ‘01], Pidcock 3rd [Gap ‘01]

Dec 28th: Telenet Superprestige Diegem: 1st: Van Aert, 2nd: Pidcock [Gap ‘06], 3rd: Van der Poel [Gap ‘33]

Dec 27th: Telenet Superprestige Heusden-Zolder: 1st: Van Aert, 2nd: Van der Poel [Gap ‘06], 4th: Pidcock [Gap ‘20]

Dec 26th: World Cup Gavere: 1st: Van der Poel, 2nd: Van Aert [Gap ‘27], 3rd: Pidcock [Gap ‘54]

Dec 23rd: Zilvermeercross: 1st: Van Aert, 2nd: Van der Poel [Gap ‘56], 3rd: Pidcock [Gap 1’20]

Dec 11th: World Cup Dublin: 1st: Van Aert, 3rd: Pidcock [Gap ‘17]

Dec 4th: World Cup Antwerpen: 1st: Van der Poel, 2nd: Van Aert [Gap ‘23], 8th: Pidcock [Gap 1’14]

2022-2023 Head-to-Head-to-Head Tallies:
Wins: Van Aert (7), Van der Poel (3), Pidcock (0)
Runner-Up: Van der Poel (4), Van Aert (3), Pidcock (1)
Third: Pidcock (4), Van der Poel (1)

Not only has Van Aert dominated the head-to-head-to-head battles with his two biggest rivals throughout the course of this cross season, but he also hasn’t finished below second place on any occasion through the 2022-23 campaign.

Meanwhile, Van der Poel and Pidcock, while still the second and third-best cross racers in the world, despite only racing the discipline part-time, have failed to consistently beat Van Aert on occasions when they have raced straight-up.

And, even outside of these raw stats, those who have watched just a few moments of the major cross races this season will have noticed just how easy things appear for Van Aert and how uncharacteristically labored Pidcock and Van der Poel have looked while attempting to match his pace.