It's been a long time since we did our first and only installment of "Where Are
They Now?" So we thought now would be the perfect time to revisit and do a
Cyclo-cross World Champions Special.
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First up, we've got the Dutch Adri van der Poel. He won the World Championships on
just one occasion back in 1996, but he also had a very glittering road career in
which he won The Tour of Flanders, The Amstel Gold Race, Liege-Bastogne-Liege
couple stage of the tour and many others, too. During his career,
Adri married a girl called Corinne Poulidor, daughter of the famous Raymond
Poulidor, and they had two sons with cycling genes that the rest of us can only
dream of. Their names are David and Mathieu, and you probably know that the
latter of those too, Mathieu van der Poel has already emulated his dad in becoming
World Cyclo-cross Champion just under two years ago. Now, since his retirement, Adri
van der Poel has done amongst other things, some competitive asparagus
hunting, and yes you did hear that correctly. He's also continued to ride his
bike, and in 2016 alone, he's already uploaded over 8,000 kilometers of rides.
He can regularly be seen attending cyclo-cross races where he supports his
two sons, and he also still has a Cyclo-cross event named after him.
The Grand Prix Adri van der Poel, which has been going every year since 1988 in
his hometown of Hoogerheide. The next one will take place on the 17th of January,
2017. The next Dutchman to win the World Championships after van der Poel was a
chap named Richard Groenendaal who did so four years later in the year 2000.
Now unlike van der Poel, Groenendaal focused solely on the Cyclo-cross pretty
much unless it was road races for preparation. But during his career he won
the World Cup on three occasions overall and also the Superprestige twice.
He eventually hung up his nubly ties at the end of 2008 season,
but he did remain within the sport. He continues as a mentor and coach at the
Rabobank Development Squad, where he focused mainly on the young Cyclo-cross
talent. It's a job that he holds down to this day. However, unfortunately, that
squad is disbanding at the end of the current season, but Groenendaal has
already been courted by a number of other teams. So it's likely that he'll be in the
world of Cyclo-cross for a few years to come yet. Niels Albert was a Cyclo-cross
rider from Belgium who first won the World Championships in 2009, and then repeated
that victory three years later in 2012. He is still right now only 30 years of age,
but he had to cut his career quite dramatically short because of a heart
condition. He retired in 2014, and initially that year little was seen of
Albert in the public eye. However, he resurfaced in September and became the
sports director of a brand new Cyclo-cross squad called the Vastgoed Service.
However, he was mentoring young riders. Amongst them is a certain Wout van Aert
who he mentored to his first World Cup win and well lately, his first ever World
Championship win. And not only does he do that, Niels also keeps himself busy during
the week in his own body shop called the Niels Albert Bike Shop,
which you can find in Tremelo in Belgium. Roger Hammond became the Junior World
Cyclo-cross Champion in Leeds all the way back in 1992. He then went on to have a
successful road career in which he finished in the top four of Paris-Roubaix
on two occasions. He retired at the end of 2011 and initially took a bit of a break
from the sport, but returned as the manager of a team named Madison Genesis.
They are third division continental squad in the UK. Now he continues as an
ambassador for that particular squad, but since the start of 2016 his main role has
been that of sports director at team Dimension Data. In fact he played a part
in Mark Cavendish's four stage wins at the Tour de France in 2016,
and Cavendish himself described Roger Hammond as, "The best sports director I
have ever had" which is praise indeed. If you judge a champion by how many times
they've won the World Championships, then Eric de Vlaeminck is by far the best
Cyclocross rider of all time. He won six back to back titles between 1968 and 1973,
but seven in total because his first one came previous to that run in 1966.
Now, after his retirement he did suffer a little bit of a dark period in which he
was addicted to amphetamines but thankfully he did bounce back.
Initially becoming a builder before going on to become the Belgian National
Cyclocross coach and, in fact, it was Eric who was credited with the resurgence of
Belgium as the dominant cycling nation. His later years though were particularly
difficult, his son Geert unfortunately died from a heart attack at a race that
Eric was watching and Eric himself passed away back in 2015 after suffering from
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. However, he will be forever remembered as
a true legend of Cyclocross. Last but definitely not least is Sven Nys,
in his career which ended just less than one year ago he won the World
Championships twice. He won 55 rounds of the Superprestiges, 50 rounds of the World
Cup. He won both those series overall on multiple occasions, and he won the Belgian
National title nine times. That is pretty incredible. No wonder they call him the
Cannibal van Baal, which I think translates to the Cannibal of Baal.
Anyway, he retired at the end of 2015/2016 season and he has become an ambassador for
Trek bicycles as well as becoming the sporting manager for the Telenet Fidea
Cyclo-cross squad. Oh, and he's also become a bit of an internet sensation,
through us here on GCN, he's done two videos with us which you can see in a few
moments time. First though, if you haven't already subscribed to the Global
Cycling Network make sure you do that, because it is free and has loads of great
content. To do that, all you've got to do is click on the globe,
then up here is how to ride Cyclo-cross like Sven Nys. Down here,
is how to dismount and remount like Sven Nys. Enjoy.