2018 International Cyclocross Rankings

Spoiler Alert: MVDP Is The World Champion

Surprising absolutely no one, Mathieu Van der Poel emerged as the new World Champion after a blazingly fast World Championships race in Bogense, Denmark. But for the first few laps of the race, he wasn't alone: Wout Van Aert clearly peaked for the race, and gave Mathieu a run for his money.

Van Aert and Toon Aerts eventually were dropped by the Dutch racer, who powered away leaving Aert vs Van Aert as the battle to watch (sound familiar?). But a last-lap crash about a minute from the finish took out Toon Aerts, relegating him to a bronze medal while Wout Van Aert had to settle for silver.

On the American side, for those keeping score, Curtis White had the top result in 21st, and Gage Hecht's 12th in the U23 race was noteworthy as well. 

So, let's dive in: We're mostly considering Worlds in here—and factoring in a few U23 riders as well—but taking the season as a whole into account as we do every week.

(Before we dive in, a reminder that the rankings are based on UCI ranking, racing trends this season, and plenty of subjective intel, wild speculation, Instagram Stories and industry gossip.)