Van Hooydonck grew up racing against Van der Poel: "Rivalry with Van Aert is the best there is"

Nathan Van Hooydonck was forced to retire from professional cycling nearly a year and a half ago, but he remains actively involved in the sport. The Belgian now works for Visma | Lease a Bike and frequently provides race analysis. He recently appeared on The Ultimate Cycling Show, where he discussed the rivalry between his former teammate Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.

Van Aert kicked off his 2024 season last weekend in the opening weekend, though he was not in contention for the victory. Van der Poel, on the other hand, started his Classics campaign three days later and immediately won Le Samyn. The Dutchman begins his Tirreno-Adriatico campaign on Monday, while Van Aert is currently at altitude camp. The two will face off for the first time this season at the E3 Saxo Classic, where Tadej Pogacar will also be on the start line.

Van Hooydonck analyzed the dynamic between the two rivals. "Wout has missed two classics campaigns—one due to COVID, and last year because of that horrific crash. But Mathieu has shown that when it comes to the biggest races, he is the better rider right now. Wout has won incredible Classics—Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Saxo Classic, Milan-San Remo—essentially all the races you want to win. Except for the two biggest ones: Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders."

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Van Hooydonck describes Van Aert–Van der Poel rivalry: "The greatest there is"

"In my opinion, it's the greatest rivalry in cycling," says Nathan Van Hooydonck. "I’ve experienced it up close. I grew up racing against Mathieu, but then I joined Wout’s team. Together, we were always racing against Mathieu, constantly trying to come up with plans to beat him. It’s not something that keeps you up at night, but it’s always on your mind—you're constantly thinking about how to beat him because he’s so strong and so good."

"Wout and Mathieu have been racing against each other their entire careers. I’m convinced that by competing against each other, they’ve pushed each other to new limits," Van Hooydonck explains. "There was a time when Wout won three cyclocross world titles in a row, but now Mathieu has won so many that I’ve lost count. And right now, he’s the better one. But that’s what keeps them both hungry—it pushes them to aim even higher, just to beat the other."

We’ll be seeing a lot more head-to-head battles between them in the coming weeks. "In my opinion, they go into the Tour de France with different goals, but in the Classics, they have the exact same mindset: to win. That’s where we’ll see their rivalry unfold again this year. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it at the World Championships too, but first, they’ll both be at their absolute best this spring," Van Hooydonck predicts.

Watch 'The Ultimate Cycling Show' with Orla Chennaoui and Adam Blythe every Thursday at 10pm free-to-air on Quest, repeated every Saturday at 9am.

Read also

Mathieu van der Poel opens 2025 with a victory in Le Samyn, but why did he use such a crazy - yet effective - sprint tactic?

Stuyven explains what makes Mathieu van der Poel so different: "That doesn't apply to riders of my caliber"

The cycling spring will be a Pogacar vs. Van der Poel showdown: "I think we’ll see an even stronger Pogacar"

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