Soon Van Aert and Van der Poel will be allowed to duel at the Zonhoven Pit | FIFA World Cup 2022

A busy end-of-year period will soon be set in Zonhoven, after which the focus will be on the championship.

Next Sunday there is the Belgian championship without Woot van Aert. After this WB assignment, he accompanies his colleagues on an internship in Spain.

So is Matthew van der Pol. Both Tenors will join up again in Benidorm on January 22. What they will do this past weekend before the World Cup is not yet entirely clear.

Van Aert will drive at Hamm on Jan. 28. Van der Poel remains a doubt between Hamm and Besançon this weekend.

Mathieu van der Poel had back problems on the sand at Koksijde on Thursday and was somewhat worried about the days ahead.

Meanwhile, Van der Poel’s fears seem to have subsided. He attributes his pain to the rapid succession of matches and is not the same injury he suffered last season. A visit to the physiotherapist also brought relief.

The match in Zonnhoven will be the last duel between Van der Poel and Watt van Aert before they both go on a training spell in Spain to further prepare for the World Cup and Spring Classics.

Esserbet has suffered from nerve pain in his back for much of this season, but he has continued to rotate. After crashing in Val di Sole he had to get off the bike for a while and only resumed in Superprestige in Heusden-Zolder.

Since then, Iserbyt has been selecting its matches a little more carefully. “Since the race in Heusden-Zolder, I’ve been riding painlessly,” he says. “This is very gratifying.”

Iserbyt wants to keep that painless feeling. Especially with the possibility of a BK.