2018 International Cyclocross Rankings

Who Else? Mathieu Van Der Poel Still Leads

In the last two weeks, the conversation has shifted from 'can anyone beat Mathieu Van der Poel' to 'Is Mathieu Van der Poel bad for cyclocross?' Unfair, absolutely. Potentially true? Well, sort of. 

He's making rankings a little less exciting when it comes to who's leading every week, that's for sure.

On the bright side, the women's racing is attracting more eyeballs than ever, and part of that might be because it's becoming more exciting to place bets on, and almost every race has a group of women together until the last lap. This, versus Mathieu off the front yet again—which is how the Koksijde race went down, of course. 

As with the women's rankings, we're taking into account the fact that a lot of Americans and some of the Euro pros are pausing for mid-season and pre-Nationals training camps. So while consistency matters, a weekend off to prep for Nationals in Louisville is smart training and needs to be considered at this time of year. 

Skipping a C2 to train ahead of Nationals and Christmas Week World Cups is good game theory...let's dive in!

(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.)