UAE Team Emirates - XRG won't allow Pogacar to race cyclocross: 'Otherwise, he’d jump straight back in'

Cyclocross has long been a relatively international sport, yet it’s still dominated by the Flemish riders. That’s no surprise, given the status the muddy spectacle enjoys in Belgium. UCI official and former crosser Peter Van Den Abeele, himself once a top rider in the field, believes the discipline is heading in the right direction again — and predicts major growth ahead.

'I can see that cyclocross is still very much alive in Flanders, but what pleases me most is that it’s also gaining popularity outside our region,' Van Den Abeele told Het Nieuwsblad. 'The World Championships in Liévin were a huge success. Benidorm has become a real crowd-pleaser, and Tábor remains a classic. But let’s be honest — the races in Flanders are still the most successful.'

One major change is coming to the discipline: from 2026 onwards, cyclocross results will count toward the UCI rankings for road teams. The aim is to encourage more multi-disciplinary cycling — not just in cyclocross, but also in track and mountain biking. Van Den Abeele expects this to influence road racing as well.

'For a team like Visma | Lease a Bike, Wout’s points won’t make a difference,' he explained. 'But for smaller teams, it’s definitely interesting. Jayco AlUla, for example, has the mountain bike world champion in their squad. EF Education has even launched its own CX team. These are small steps, but they’re steps in the right direction.'

For Van Den Abeele, Alpecin-Deceuninck is the perfect example of a team successfully combining road and cyclocross. 'They’ve shown that young riders can easily make their debut in another discipline and still grow into top riders on the road,' he said. 'What we’re seeing now was already being said forty years ago. Don’t forget — Tadej Pogacar used to be a cyclocross rider too. The only reason he doesn’t race is because his team won’t allow it. Otherwise, he’d jump straight back in.'

The Slovenian was actually national cyclocross champion in 2018, and in 2021 he briefly returned to the mud in his home country — immediately winning in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. His return to a full cross campaign would undoubtedly give the sport a massive boost. With cyclocross potentially becoming an Olympic discipline by 2030, could that be an extra incentive for Pogacar?

There’s still a long way to go before cyclocross makes it to the Olympic Games. 'The IOC seems willing to drop the condition that a winter sport must be practiced on snow or ice,' Van Den Abeele explained. 'A sport that’s held outdoors during the winter might be enough. It hasn’t been approved yet, but it’s not off the table either. A final decision should be made before the Cyclocross World Championships in Hulst (January 2026).'

'That would be the final step toward full recognition of cyclocross', he continued. 'National federations would then be more willing to invest in the discipline. Right now, too much talent is being lost — take France, for example. Look at Seixas: a great young crosser who’s being pushed toward the road. Yet Mathieu van der Poel proves the combination is possible — seven-time world cyclocross champion and still winning the biggest Classics every year.'