After Mathieu van der Poel announced that he will contest the world championship cyclocross with the professionals earlier this week, his 20-year old rival Wout van Aert did the same today.

Van Aert was scheduled to start the world championship with the espoirs. However after lots of prayers from the fans and from the riders themselves, the best two riders of this season will now compete at the highest level on February 1st in Tabor.

Both riders are way below the espoir limit of 22-years, while van Aert is 20 van der Poel is only 19-years old. And while the young stars stated for weeks that they wanted to ride with the professionals, their teams were reluctant to rush them.

At the official team presentation later today, Van Aert and Vastgoedservice – Golden Palace will explain this decision.