Racing over Christmas seems crazy to us as American racers. For the Belgians, it’s tradition.

Bear in mind, with events on December 23, 26, 28, 30, and January 1, the races aren’t self-contained. There are hours of travel between, and for the World Cup at Zolder on December 26, riders will spend Christmas Day on the course pre-riding (after spending Christmas Eve recovering from Sint Niklaas). 

New Year’s Eve? Not so much when you’re recovering from a Superprestige and getting ready for another DVV Trofee series race on New Year’s Day. 

No wonder the parties rage so hard the night that World Championships are finally done and the season has come to an end. (Well, except for Superprestige and Brico Cross races live on FloBikes in February.)

As the crazy Christmas week kicks off, here's what to expect at the first event, aptly named after Santa: Sint-Niklaas, or Waaslandcross.

Wout Versus Van Der Poel Is Building

These two young guns have been in heated competition for years already (and both can’t even rent a car yet!). This season, it seemed like Matheiu Van der Poel was simply unstoppable — until the World Cup in Namur, where current World Champion Wout van Aert wrestled the win away from Van der Poel. 

Van Aert had some down time to retrain in warm weather in Spain, so he’s coming in to great late-season form, but Van der Poel will be doing everything he can in order to make sure everyone knows he’s still the man to beat.

Plenty Of Americans To Watch

There aren’t many elite men braving the Christmas block this year, but there will absolutely be two under-23 racers in the men’s race: Gage Hecht and Cooper Willsey. 

Hecht had a great race in Namur last weekend, finishing 16th. He’s coming into European racing fresh, though he’ll be trying to temper his racing here with the knowledge that nationals is under a month away.

In the women’s field, Emma White, Elle Anderson, Becca Fahringer, and Corey Coogan Cisek are all going to be on the start line. None are new to European racing for this season, and White, Coogan-Cisek, and Anderson have been over for the last few weeks — Anderson actually resides primarily in Belgium now. 

Fahringer will be fully acclimated and over jet lag by Friday, and it will be interesting to see what the American women can do without riders like 13-time national champion Katie Compton on the start line.

The Women’s Field Is Bananas

Objectively, the women’s field is absolutely packed with huge amounts of talent right now. As we’ve said before, there are now at least 15 women at each race who could easily take the win on the right course on the right day. Look at Namur, where Evie Richards, the former under-23 world champion, rode from the fourth row on the start to take the win. 

Waaslandcross features multi-time Olympian and world champ Marianne Vos, current world champ Sanne Cant, former World Cup overall winner Sophie de Boer, and current under-23 world champ Annemarie Worst. Beyond that, powerhouses Helen Wyman, Ellen van Loy, Loes Sels, and Lucinda Brand will all be starting.

Don’t Discount The Other Euros In The Men’s Race

Don’t get us wrong: in addition to Van der Poel and Van Aerts, the men’s field holds plenty of guys who, on the right day, could be in contention for the win. We’ve seen Tom Meeusen with some great results this year and plenty of podiums, Laurens Sweck won at CrossVegas and has podiumed multiple times in Europe, Quinten Hermans is coming into great form, and Toon Aerts is consistently at the front of elite races lately. 

So while it seems like this year has been the Van der Poel show, as nationals and worlds come closer and riders are deviating from the standard “race every weekend” schedule and adding training blocks at different times, there might be more shake-ups in the men’s field.

By Molly Hurford; Images by Balint Hamvas – Cyclephotos