Welcome to Daily News, your roundup of news items from across the world of cycling. We keep this post updated throughout the week so that you can stay informed on all things bike racing, tech, industry, culture, advocacy, and more.
Here is what is making the headlines this week …
Sunday, January 5, 2025
- Mathieu van der Poel is targeting the elusive MTB world title in 2025
- Brand and Van Aert double up in swamp-like Dendermonde
- Sylvain Moniquet hit by driver in training
Mathieu van der Poel is targeting the elusive MTB world title in 2025
Mathieu van der Poel is a multiple world champion already, but one discipline has eluded him: cross-country mountain bike.
The Dutch superstar won his maiden cyclocross world title in his first junior season, and his extraordinary talent continued to shine as he stepped up through the ranks. He’s won six elite rainbow jerseys since 2015 – a record-equalling seventh on the line in a few weeks – and more recently, he’s added road (2023) and gravel (2024) titles to his lengthy palmarès.
Over the years, Van der Poel has had a more turbulent relationship with MTB, and while he has national and European titles to his name, the rainbow bands have thus far eluded him. In his two past appearances in 2018 and ’23, he registered third and DNF, but this year, he’d like to put it right, with one eye on what would be his last Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028. This comes as he continues to cast doubt over a possible return to the Tour de France – “a race that I don’t really like” – and absence would free up the summer for off-road ambitions, but his team and sponsors may have other ideas. [Sporza]
Brand and Van Aert double up in swamp-like Dendermonde
After Saturday’s tricky Gullegem round of the Superprestige, the cyclocross world looked to Dendermonde as the World Cup resumed. Always a tough course, the moist conditions currently soaking northern Europe turned the muddy terrain into a swamp and many feared there would be more running than riding.
The riders were thrilled about the sloppy conditions, though, for the most part, and both elite races were attritional affairs. The women’s race saw another brilliant battle among the Dutch favourites with Puck Pieterse looking strong from the gun, but it was Lucinda Brand who overcame the elements and her own fatigue to celebrate back-to-back victories, and a 32nd consecutive podium finish, with Pieterse and Fem van Empel completing the podium.
In the men’s race, it was set to be another battle between Wout van Aert and the full-timers with Van der Poel still out injured. If the Belgian looked good in Gullegem, Sunday’s Dendermonde brought out extraordinary form. Early on, it looked like it might be another close-fought affair, but it only took a few laps for Van Aert to leave the world behind, Emiel Verstrynge the best of the rest over a minute down.
Besides the thrill of another victory, it’s a very good indication for the recovery of his knee injury as Van Aert looks ahead to the Spring Classics.
Up-and-comer Sylvain Moniquet hit by driver in training
Belgian climber Sylvain Moniquet is the latest in a string of riders to see their winter training disrupted after being hit by a driver while out preparing for 2025. Moniquet was cut off on the Profondeville roundabout between Namur and Dinant, and went straight to the hospital fearing injury to his pelvis.
The 26-year-old was lucky to come away with no broken bones, but he faces a few days of complete rest before his training can resume in preparation for his first season with Cofidis after moving from Lotto Dstny this winter.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
- Wout van Aert takes his first victory – in his first race – of 2025
- SEG Racing Academy is back, sort of
- Lennert van Eetvelt is going to be busy this season
Wout van Aert takes his first victory – in his first race – of 2025
Wout van Aert was making only his second appearance of the 24-25 cyclocross season in Saturday’s Superprestige Gullegem, but with no world champion Mathieu van der Poel – whose absence was planned before his recent season-interrupting rib injury – and his son’s fourth birthday to celebrate, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider was on a mission.
The 31-year-old battled with Eli Iserbyt in a thrilling duel throughout the final two laps to claim the win, but it was in the women’s race that the drama was most enticing, as has been the case all season. After a steady start, Lucinda Brand joined the fray late, but gradually picked at the group of Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Léonie Bentveld and early leader Zoe Backstedt, until Brand’s characteristic final-lap burst. Behind the Dutch veteran, Alvarado and Backstedt almost literally wrestled for supremacy in the run-in to the finish, where Backstedt snatched second in a photo finish.
SEG Racing Academy is back, sort of
The Dutch-based SEG Racing Academy – run by the talent agency SEG International – was a true powerhouse of U23 men’s development until the team closed its doors at the end of 2021, but they’re back after a three-year hiatus, albeit not as a team, but as a talent development programme.
Between 2015 and 2021, SEG Racing could boast the cultivation of no less than 36 future pros, including Fabio Jakobsen, Kaden Groves, Jordi Meeus and Stephen Williams. Now, in keeping with the times, SEG will be focussing on even younger talent in both men’s and women’s junior ranks. The riders involved will benefit from access to training and guidance on all aspects of their sporting and personal development, which will include educational webinars and scholarship opportunities led by experts and alumni.
Lennert van Eetvelt is going to be busy this season
Lotto leader Lennert van Eetvelt, winner of the second and last WorldTour stage races of 2024 (UAE and Guangxi), is taking an ambitious approach to his third professional season. The 23-year-old plans to start his season back where 2024 began at the UAE Tour, then return to Europe for his Omloop Het Nieuwsblad debut that marks a stepping stone for his first elite Tour of Flanders.
He’s not your typical cobbled Classics rider, but it’s not just here that his 2025 plans bring to mind one Tadej Pogačar; with two spring Monuments, the Volta a Catalunya and Strade Bianche, then back-to-back Tour de France and Vuelta a España – targeting experience and maybe a stage win in France, and a good final classification in Spain – the young Belgian is following a proven route.
Friday, January 3, 2025
- Van der Poel will skip Dendermonde too but his rib injury will have ‘no impact’ on road goals
- The new Core 2 is a smaller and lighter body temperature sensor
- Almeida downplays rift with Ayuso
- Winner’s Circle: Sweeck and Pieterse win at Koksijde
Van der Poel will skip Dendermonde too but his rib injury will have ‘no impact’ on road goals
Mathieu van der Poel has been sitting out of planned cyclocross starts this week as he recovers from a rib injury sustained in a crash at the Azencross, and on Friday, he said that he would be skipping the upcoming World Cup round in Dendermonde. Alpecin-Deceuninck team boss Christoph Roodhooft, however, told Wielerflits shortly before that announcement that the issue is not a concern for the upcoming road racing season.
“He can still ride on the road. On the road bike, it hardly bothers him,” Roodhooft said. “That is of course good. His rib pain therefore has no impact on the road season. Everyone gets sick sometimes or has something for the winter. So this is not a big disaster.” [Wielerflits]
The new Core 2 is a smaller and lighter body temperature sensor
Core, the company behind the Core body temperature sensor, has announced the launch of its next-generation body temperature sensor, the Core 2, aimed at improving thermal load management for athletes.
The new device, available globally from March 2025, is 48% smaller and 30% lighter than the original CORE sensor. It features real-time connectivity via BLE and ANT+ to the Core app and head units from Garmin and Wahoo, with a redesigned attachment system for improved comfort and a new LED indicator for device connection and battery status updates. The Core 2 will be sold at the same price as its predecessor (CHF270, international pricing TBC), with a Trade-Up Program discount offered to existing users who return their Core 1 devices. Core says the new sensor’s hardware is built to support future software updates.
Almeida downplays rift with Ayuso
João Almeida’s televised frustration with fellow UAE Team Emirates rider Juan Ayuso during stage 4 of the Tour de France set off months of talk about intra-team drama, but Almeida has downplayed any notion of a rift between himself and Ayuso in an interview with Top Cycling.
“To put an end to the controversy, [things have] always been fine,” Almeida said. “We get on well, we have nothing against each other. Sometimes there are racing situations that don’t go 100% as we’d like, but then it’s something that’s talked about, it’s discussed, it’s over and that’s that. We all make mistakes, on both sides, it happens. The most important thing is to learn from your mistakes.” [Top Cycling]
Winner’s Circle: Sweeck and Pieterse win at Koksijde
Laurens Sweeck and Puck Pieterse took the wins at the Koksijde X2O Badkamers Trofee race on Friday. Sweeck was a clear winner on the men’s side after he left Tibor del Grosso behind during the penultimate lap and never looked back. Del Grosso took second with Toon Aerts in third. Pieterse, meanwhile, got her first win of this cyclocross campaign with a long solo effort, with Lucinda Brand taking runner-up honors ahead of Fem van Empel.
Thursday, January 2, 2025
- Wout van Aert’s first goal for 2025 is to stay upright
- Brompton reports a huge drop in profits
- Up-and-coming talent Mitterwallner will race MTB and road with HPH
- René Herse releases ‘not just another semi-slick’ gravel tire
- Van der Poel will skip Koksijde
Wout van Aert’s first goal for 2025 is to stay upright
In an interview with Sporza, Wout van Aert reflected on the “difficult period” that he experienced after crashing out of the Vuelta a España, yet another big crash in a crash-marred season, and laid out his hopes for 2025.
The first thing that came to mind when he was asked what he wanted for the new season was apparently just “that I can just stay on my bike.” The Belgian said that he was “fed up” with watching the big races from the sidelines that he would otherwise be targeting.
Beyond that, he has his sights set on a few events in particular.
“I dream of being able to look back on a victory in the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix in a year’s time,” he said. “That is definitely at the top of my list. And I also learned from last year that I can be successful if I can ride a Grand Tour in a free way.” [Sporza]
Brompton reports a huge drop in profits
The UK’s largest folding bike manufacturer, Brompton, has revealed that in the fiscal year ending in March 2024, it struggled to make a profit. For this period, the brand turned a profit of just £4,602, down from £10.7 million in the year prior. This represents a 99% drop in profits and puts the British brand at risk of collapse. This downturn is attributed to a 5.3% decrease in sales, totalling £122.6 million, and a reduction of 8.2% in the number of bikes sold.
Managing Director of Brompton Will Butler-Adams cited industry-wide challenges, including overestimated demand following the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to surplus inventory and widespread discounting. Speaking to The Guardian, Butler Adams said, “The industry is still in turmoil and will not get better this year.” He also went on to explain that he doesn’t expect 2025 to be quite as bad as 2024. The future of Brompton is still unclear. However, this news is the latest in a string of industry turmoil with a number of well-known brands entering administration in 2024. [The Guardian]
Up-and-coming talent Mitterwallner will race MTB and road with HPH
Austrian cyclist Mona Mitterwallner has signed with the Human Powered Health team, moving on from Cannondale Factory Racing, where she has raced since 2022. The move comes as the three-time MTB Marathon world champion aims to combine road and XC racing, making her the latest talent to turn her hand to multidisciplinary racing.
Mitterwallner has expressed that she is particularly excited about the prospect of longer climbs in road racing, contrasting with the shorter efforts typical in mountain biking. At 46 kg, longer climbs are likely to play to her strengths, and as a former XC Marathon World Champion, going the distance in road races is unlikely to be a problem. As it stands, Mitterwallner has signed with Human Powered Health until the end of 2026, at which time she will still be only 24 years old.
René Herse releases ‘not just another semi-slick’ gravel tire
Seattle-based tire manufacturer René Herse has released a new gravel tire to its range in the shape of the 44 mm wide Corkscrew tire. Although on the surface, the tire looks to be a regular semi-slick design, the press release issued is quick to state the tire is “not just another semi-slick.” Designed with input from Ted King, Brennan Wertz, and the Mazda Orange Seal Gravel Team, the Corkscrew has a smooth and continuous centre tread sandwiched between a file tread that then becomes a more knobbly tread on the shoulders of the tire.
There are four casing options available: Standard, Extralight, Endurance and Endurance Plus, with the weight of a tire varying from 481 grams to 564 grams depending on the casing. René Herse has patented the Corkscrew’s tapering tread pattern, which it claims means “no abrupt change in tire behavior as the rider leans into a corner.”
Van der Poel will skip Koksijde due to rib injury
Having already skipped the GP Sven Nys X2O Badkamers Trofee race on Wednesday, Mathieu van der Poel will also skip the upcoming Koksijde X2O Badkamers Trofee event as he continues to recover from a rib injury sustained last week at the Azencross in Loenhout, which he won despite crashing. His next race, if his schedule holds, is Sunday’s World Cup in Dendermonde.
“This is really disappointing because Koksijde is one of my favorite races,” Van der Poel said via an Alpecin-Deceuninck statement. “It’s where I won my first world title, for example. But it’s just too soon. I hope to be ready for Dendermonde, although I fear it will be a close call.”
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