Cyclo-cross is a sport that has been dominated for decades by Belgian cyclists. Sometimes it seemed like no one else but Belgians enjoyed cycling in the cold winter, on muddy forest or snowy and icy hills. Why would anyone not enjoy that right? Well, in Belgium they certainly enjoy it, or are they simply that good at it, that no one from another country stands a chance to even reach the top 10 on regular basis?
Roger That
Roger De Vlaeminck was a great road-cyclist. He won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia as well as in La Vuelta. He was a six-time winner of the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race and won many one-day races and classics. Among them the Tour of Flanders, the Giro di Lombardia and three times Milan-San Remo. Probably his biggest achievement was, however, winning Paris-Roubaix four times. This gave him the nickname "Monsieur Paris-Roubaix". As you may know, Paris-Roubaix is a race that involves cobblestones and muddy roads.
It should not be a surprise to you now that Roger De Vlaeminck also had a career in cyclo-cross. He was the Belgian national champion on three occasions. If we go back to the opening sentences of this blog you will have no trouble understanding that if you are the national champion of Belgium, you are one of the best in the world at the sport. This was no difference for De Vlaeminck, who was indeed the world champion in cyclo-cross in 1975. Brother Erik De Vlaeminck was a seven-time world champion, of which he won six years in a row, showing a supremacy that has been only equaled ever since by a Dutch woman named Marianne Vos.
In the last twenty years in the male competition of the cyclo-cross world championships, a total of sixty medals have been awarded, twenty of each color (gold, silver, and bronze). Out of those sixty medals, forty-two went to Belgian cyclists. It shows how dominant the Belgians have been and Roger's brother Erik was the most dominant of all.
Mathieu van der Poel
Since 2015 there's a new kid in town, Mathieu van der Poel, son of 1996 world champion Adri van der Poel. Just to be sure, Mathieu and Adri are Dutch, they are no Belgians. Mathieu had at that time already won three youth world championships, two in cyclo-cross and one in road-cycling. There was no doubt that in his first try to win the world title he was going to be one of the favorites. He did indeed show his skills and became the champion of the world. In the years that followed he won almost every race, he participated in. Just have a look at his achievements in his Wikipedia article.
It seemed obvious that Mathieu van der Poel would be world champion for many years in a row. However, in 2016, 2017 and in 2018 (February) it was the silver medallist of 2015 Wout Van Aert, another Belgian who won the world championship three times in succession.
In the early stage of the 2018/19 cyclo-cross season, it is again Mathieu van der Poel who is dominating the races. On Saturday during the World Cup race in Tabor, Czech Republic Van der Poel took the lead early on in the race to not give anyone the opportunity to come back. It was his tenth win of the season that has just started. Tabor is the track on which he became world champion in 2015 and European champion in 2017, meaning he stays unbeaten on the track. In total, he has been to Tabor six times in his career and won all six of these races.
Not even 24 hours later, after traveling from Tabor to Munich, and from Munich to Belgium Van der Poel won his eleventh race of the season, the Flandriencross. It was the third year in a row he was the winner of this race.
Moaning
Back to Roger De Vlaeminck. He was present in Hamme, the location where the Flandriencross was held and he gave an interview to Belgian TV-station Sporza. During this interview, he said the following: "No one is currently able to come even close to Mathieu van der Poel, he is simply too good". He continued with "However, I believe that he should become smarter. More and more people start losing interest". When journalist Ruben Van Gucht asked further he said: "A race currently just takes ten minutes, then the decision has already been made. I am starting to dislike watching, it's not worth the time". The rant went on a bit longer describing Van der Poel as follows: "Van der Poel is a real Dutchman who wants to attract all attention to himself. I understand that, but if you are that good, you can make the race a little bit more enjoyable to watch. Currently, I don't find it enjoyable, Van der Poel is damaging the sport".
I find the words of De Vlaeminck completely incorrect and out of its place. Did he, or his brother do the same thing? Did they cycle slower on purpose to give others the feeling that they had a chance, to then up the speed and leave them behind for fun? I highly doubt that and even if they did it, to me that is the worst thing one can do. Mathieu van der Poel is a true sportsman who wants to win as much as possible. The last three years he's been trying to find out why he has been dominating so much, without winning the world title for a second, third or fourth time. He might not become world champion ever again, who knows? There is no single reason why Van der Poel would let opponents come close on purpose, or even lose a race to make the championship more interesting to watch.
He might be right that races are less interesting to watch but in order to change that the others will need to have to do something about it. Maybe Belgian fans don't like to see a Dutchie taking all the trophies, but if they want to stop that, they should do something about it, not Mathieu van der Poel. In the meantime, the sport is attracting more viewers in the Netherlands and Van der Poel has a huge fanbase from around the world. These people watch him ride because they want to see him win and if it's up to them with the highest possible time difference.
Cheer up, Roger! At least you know that if Mathieu van der Poel wins all the world titles from now on, it will take at least another six years to reach the same number of wins as your brother did. It will be shorter if Wout Van Aert would add another four wins to his totals, but I guess you will be fine with that, as he would be Belgian and then all the fans that are not watching now, will be back.
Do you agree with me or with Roger? Please drop a comment below, thanks!
Happy Moan-Day
This is my contribution to @pete's recurring "Happy Moan-Day" contest. Another aim from his side to support struggling and new users to Scorum. If you want to take part of it yourself or would like to read articles from other writers, please go to this link.
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