Mathieu van der Poel's cyclocross return smashes record attendance in Namur

Mathieu van der Poel returned to the cross field with a bang on Sunday, winning at the UCI World Cup at the iconic course in Namur on a day that marked a special occasion. The race is one of the most recognised in all of cyclocross, also known as the Citadelcross, with a brutal course in and around the Citadel of Namur and has become increasingly popular among the fans.

The Citadelcross isn’t that old, which is somewhat surprising, considering its popularity with the public and prestige for the riders. The first edition took place back in 2009 when Niels Albert powered to victory in the men’s race as the World Champion, meanwhile Daphny van den Brand took the win in the women’s race.

In the inaugural edition of the men's race, Erwin Vervecken finished 7th at the grand old age of 37. The former three–time World Champion now works as an external sportive consultant for the sports marketing company Golazo, and helped organise the race on Sunday. 

Before the race, Vervecken noted the boom in ticket sales with the arrival of the seven-time World Champion Mathieu van der Poel, and the increase in public interest with the return of a bona fide multidisciplined star.

“It certainly looks that way,” said Vervecken to Het Nieuwsblad regarding the increase in public interest due to the season debut of Van der Poel.

"Since Mathieu confirmed he'll be at the start on Sunday, pre-sales have gone through the roof. So much so that last Thursday, we already sold 2,500 more tickets than the year before. And then, with 9,644 paying spectators, we had almost surpassed the ten thousand mark,” added Vervecken.

Van der Poel had his work cut out on the day, but was able to get the job done against an impressive and unfortunate Thibau Nys, marking the 171st professional cyclocross win of his career, leaving him 101 behind Sven Nys at the top of the all-time rankings, and his twelfth consecutive win, dating back to the 2023/24 season. 

The World Champion himself acknowledged the difficulty of the course after his win, stating, "I was making a bit too many mistakes." The Flying Dutchman also holds the record for most victories at the Citadelcross with six.

Meanwhile, Lucinda Brand romped to victory in the women’s race, her sixth win on the bounce and tenth of the 2025/2026. What’s even more impressive is the fact that the 36-year-old extended a staggering streak of 52 consecutive races finishing on the podium. Like Van der Poel, Brand holds the record for most wins in the women's race with five.

It was later confirmed that a record number of spectators were in attendance at Namur to see the exploits of the two Dutch stars. Christophe Impens, Managing Director at Golazo, confirmed that the attendance count reached 12,100 people, surpassing 10,000 at the race for the first time. 

"The course is iconic, and it's also the only cyclocross event where we already have 8,000 spectators inside before noon," said Impens.

The increase in atmosphere bodes well for the future of the Citadelcross and cyclocross in general, particularly due to the fact that the 2030 UCI Cyclocross World Championships will take place in Namur for the very first time.