TWO ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION RIDERS
CYCLING’S BIG ISSUES
PROCYCLING’S WRITERS IDENTIFY THE STORIES WHICH WILL DEFINE THE 2021 ROAD RACING SEASON
WRITERS ADAM BECKET SOPHIE HURCOM EDWARD PICKERING
We are indisputably in the era of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. The pair have eclipsed Peter Sagan and even Julian Alaphilippe as the dominant classics riders in the last two years, and the sport is optimistic that the exhilarating head-to-head battle between them at the Tour of Flanders in 2020 was a preview of a lot more to come in the next few years.Van der Poel came out on top in that race. Yet overall Van Aert had the better 2020 -he won Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche, along with two Tour de France stages. Van der Poel had the better 2019, with his spectacular Amstel Gold Race win, while Van Aert was ahead in 2018, with a podium in Strade Bianche and top 10s in Gent-Wevelgem and Flanders. As soon as one seems to halfwheel ahead of the other, it inspires the other to try and overtake right back.