The first big match of the cyclocross season between reigning world champion Tom Pidcock and past winners Mathieu van der Pol and Wout van Aert will take place at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst on November 27.

Pidcock said he will debut the rainbow jersey this season at the Superprestige in Merckxplus on November 19. According to organizer Kurt Werninmen, Mathieu van der Pol and Wout van Aert will start with Pidcock in Hulst.

"I just spoke with Mathieu and Wout's manager and he says they are coming, but we don't know for sure. But we don't know for sure. It is possible that they will suddenly have other things to do, but they will show up at the start," Wernimen said, according to the Omroep Zeeland newspaper.

When Hulst hosted the World Cup for the first time in 2021, the trio filled the podium with Van der Pol winning ahead of Van Aert and Pidcock. Last January, Pidcock won, Van Aert finished fourth, and Van der Pol was sidelined with a knee injury.

These three cross titans, along with top riders such as World Cup leader Eli Iserbitt and his Bingoal Pauwels Sausen teammates Michael Vanthourenhout and Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek) and they will have their day early if they clash in Hulst.

The Hulst World Cup will not follow the usual schedule of elite men and women racing in the afternoon, as the FIFA World Cup match between Belgium and Morocco will take place the same day at 2 pm.

"Normally we do the youth first, then the women's and men's pros at the end of the afternoon, then the party, but the Cycling Association and the Belgian TV station Sporza decided on this method," Werninmen said.

On the plus side, the race will be moved to the center of Hulst, rather than the Perkploder, which has hosted no-shows the past two times due to a coronavirus outbreak. This month's race will be a preview of when Hulst hosts the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in 2026.