Though Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) have yet to make their cyclocross debuts in Europe so far this season, the 2024-25 campaign has already seen some very exciting racing.
However, the big two - and hopefully Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) - are expected to dust down their cyclocross bikes and pin on numbers long before the season is out; likely before the end of this year.
When they do, their appearance money will be very significant; within a range of €8,000 to €20,000, though each one commands a slightly different amount, see below.
Some concern was expressed a couple of years ago by cyclocross legend Sven Nys that Van der Poel and Van Aert were raking in so much money other riders were missing out. But one international race organiser has now set out a different financial picture.
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Francis Bosschaerts, who organises Superprestige Diegem, said while the fees for the big two are high, the money is repaid by the sheer amount of extra tickets they sell. There is also additional revenue from the sales of all the beer the extra spectators consume at the race venues.
And when the balance sheet is studied at the end of the day, laying out for appearance fees for Van Aert and van der Poel more than pays for itself.
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“All that tension today is nice," he said of the cyclocross riders already well into their season and who have served up some great battles in recent weeks.
"But Van Aert and Van der Poel remain crucial. Even if the race may become a bit more monotonous. With Van der Poel we had 25,000 spectators last year, without either of them we would have reached a maximum of 15,000 to 20,000.
"And that they also cost us something? Oh, add the drinking of all those extra fans and those guys pay for themselves.”
A basic ticket for Superprestige Diegem is €15, meaning 5,000 extra ticket says would generate €75,000 and 10,000 would result in €150,000 additional revenue. And that's before any on-site spend by those fans is factored in.
In the 2022-23 season it emerged then world champion, Tom Pidcock, was said to command appearance money of around €8,000 for major cyclocross events with Van der Poel reported to command a fee up to €15,000 and Van Aert up to €20,000 as he is said to sell the most tickets.
Some of the biggest cyclocross fixtures in Europe sell more 20,000 tickets and two years ago many were trying to get back on a firm footing after their events were cancelled during the pandemic.
