Irish cycling fans' attentions will be firmly fixed on the upcoming schedules of the biggest names in cyclocross as they soon confirm their race programmes for the weeks and months ahead. And now Wout van Aert is expected to be the first of the big three to confirm he will be at the Dublin round of the UCI World Cup next month.
It is not clear yet if he will be joined by world champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). But the Belgian media has now begun reporting Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) will race in the Irish capital next month.
According to HLN.be, Van Aert will start his season in Kortrijk on November 26th and may also race in Scheldecross in Antwerp on December 4th. While his schedule will not be confirmed by his team until later this week, likely on Thursday, HLN.be reports he will compete in Dublin on December 11th before going on a training camp with his team.
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He was then expected to race in Gavere on St Stephen's Day before continuing his cyclocross programme up to the UCI World Cyclocross Championships in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands, on February 5th.
While many Irish cycling fans will also want to see Van der Poel and Pidcock in Dublin - and with the latter expected to attract fans from Britain if he comes - Van Aert is the biggest draw of the trio, especially after his dominant performances at the Tour de France over the last two years.
Pidcock is 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 have sold more 20,000 tickets - before the pandemic - and it will be interesting to see how popular the Dublin round is, tickets for which are on sale and cost €15.
