Mathieu van der Poel (opens in new tab) is set to make his cyclocross season debut at the Boxing Day Dendermonde World Cup (opens in new tab) race in Belgium. He will soon battle his eternal rivals Wout van Aert (opens in new tab) and Tom Pidcock of Great Britain in a fierce "kerst periode" (Christmas period) race dubbed the "Three Kings" of cyclocross.

The three will also clash in the Heusden-Zolder Superprestige race on December 27 and the Hulst World Cup on January 2.

The Diegem Superprestige race on December 29 has been cancelled due to tighter COVID-19 regulations in Belgium and a ban on spectators attending sporting events, but the other races will be run without spectators.

The Belgian National Championships in Middelkerke on January 8 and 9 appear to have been cancelled due to protests and action by the Belgian Cycling Federation; other races in late January are still to be decided, and organizers are trying to make up for lost revenue from spectator fees and food and drink at the circuit with government financial support and a reduction in starting funds for the riders to make up for the loss of revenue from spectator fees and food and beverages at the circuit.

The World Championships are scheduled to take place at the end of January in Fayetteville, USA, but the UCI has not yet made a final decision on whether to host the event.

Van der Poel was scheduled to make his cyclocross debut last weekend at the Rucphen World Cup in the Netherlands, but a knee injury delayed his winter training and a back injury interrupted him in late 2021. He has recovered and trained hard at the recent Alpecin Phoenix get-together in Spain, but despite dominating the sport last winter, he accepts that it may be difficult to compete with Juan Art and others.

"The knee is finally healing. The problem was that the wound wasn't closed yet, but now I can do everything again.

"My back is also holding up so far. But it's holding up somehow. I've done everything I can for Sunday."

Van der Pol admitted that it was a "stupid crash" but one that could have derailed his entire cyclocross season.

"I wasn't training, I was just cruising through the woods with a friend, and I lost my front wheel on an unexpectedly slippery spot and hit my knee on a piece of gravel first. I knew right away it wasn't good," he explained.

"After the crash they cleaned the knee and cut out the dead flesh. The first two days I was fine, but then it started hurting to pedal and I had to take five or six days off."

Van der Pol lost 12 days of crucial preparation time, but initially feared the entire season would be derailed. He is eager to race again, perhaps using the Christmas race block to find form and close the gap between Van Aert and Pidcock.

"My cyclocross season was already really short, so if I had missed this whole [Christmas] period, I might not have done cyclocross season," he said. But now I'm back on the bike for a few weeks and my knee is fine."

Van Aert, who has shared the last seven world titles with Van der Pol, has made a remarkable return to cyclocross in recent weeks, winning three races, first dominating the competition in Boom, winning in Essen, and again in the World Cup round in snowy Val di Sole. He won again in the World Cup round in the snowy Val di Sole. He recently completed a training camp at JUmbo-Visma and could be in even better shape.

"Wout is in really good shape. We expected him to win right away, but not in that way," Van der Pol said respectfully. 'In fact, it was very impressive.

However, van der Pol does not deny his own possibility.

"Probably, yes. The level behind Wout is something I can usually keep up with. When I get back into cyclo-cross and see how far he's going, I don't know if I have the legs to keep up with him, but I should be able to stay in the group behind him. I hope I can surprise myself with a good run. ......"

Cycling News will have a full report and photo gallery of the men's and women's races in Dendermonde.