After Saturday's stage in Maasmechelen, yesterday's race in Hoogerheide closed the thirty-third edition of the Cyclocross World Cup. The victory went again to Mathieu van der Poel, who raced and won 8 of the 12 World Cup stages in 2025-2026. Next weekend the World Championships will be held in the Netherlands, and meanwhile Tomas Van den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, has drawn his conclusions and is satisfied with this season. The number one in world cyclocross spoke in Hoogerheide, at the end of the last race of the world circuit and after congratulating the winners, wanted to express his point of view. "This is an edition that can only make us very satisfied" - said Tomas Van Den Spiegel - "This more concentrated World Cup has also borne fruit". The World Cup started last November 23rd in Tabor and yesterday the curtain fell at the end of the stage in Hoogerheide. In the overall standings, Mathieu van der Poel won with 280 points and behind him Thibau Nys closed with 242 points, followed by Vandeputte at 222 and del Grosso at 191.

"Several elements we have consolidated are working very well. First, I refer to the block of races in Belgium, during the peak holiday period, but also to international events like Tabor and Benidorm. The number of spectators remains stable or has even increased".

The final victory went to Van der Poel, who dominated every race in his program. Van Den Spiegel is satisfied with the Dutchman and thinks that the level of competitors is increasing year by year. "Gratitude is the right word, because it was not a given that Van der Poel would decide to race eight of the twelve races. He adds prestige to the overall classification and helps us to further develop the World Cup. On the other hand, we were pleased to see that with Nys, Verstrynge, Del Grosso and company, there will certainly be life for cyclocross after Mathieu and Wout. We had already seen this in the women's race, despite Lucinda Brand's dominance".

Flanders Classics wants to continue with this positive momentum and try to grow further. "We are ambitious for the future. The number of applications received for the next edition and beyond is surprisingly broad and interesting - continued Tomas Van Den Spiegel - It is up to us to evaluate the logistical and financial feasibility. We are open to everything, including non-European locations, but we must be careful not to further burden the teams, riders, and calendar".

Next season could see many novelties, such as an evening cyclocross in Ostrava in the Czech Republic in a combined race with Tabor, then replacing Besançon with Flamanville. These are some of the hypotheses and Van Den Spiegel does not want to talk too much about it and is waiting for a meeting with the UCI. In any case, the points scale, number of races, the period of the World Cup (late November-late January) and the block of races in Belgium will remain intact.

"To be clear, we are also learning. The date of Terralba (Sardinia), for example, is not ideal. And we are listening to riders and teams, trying to take into account their training retreats. But now we are on solid foundations and we must think about improving further and always moving forward".