The New Years Day DVV Trophy round in Baal today was the first opportunity to see the new colours, bikes, buses and more in the Cyclocross Field…
Here we run you through all the changes and what you can expect to see in 2018:
Firstly Mathieu Van der Poel and his Beobank-Corendon team now have a new name, kit, bike and sponsor! Circus Casinos have replaced Beobank, with the team now known as Corendon-Circus. The new sponsor only meant one thing a new jersey, as seen below.
Along with a new title sponsor, Circus, Canyon Bicycles also joined as bike sponsor, replacing Stevens after a lengthy deal. The team will be riding the new Canyon Inflite CF SLX, with more details found here
Mathieu and his team were also spotted wearing the new Lazer Bullet Aerohelmet, replacing the ever-popular Lazer Z1 – it looks like aerohelmets in cross are here to stay!
Also spotted rocking the new lids were Kevin Pauwels and his Marlux teammates, seemingly switching to the aero design from longtime sponsor eKoi. The main thing you would have noticed however is the new jersey for team Marlux-Bingoal, with Bingoal replacing Napoleon-Games as title sponsor
The super successful development team Lares-Doltcini also sees change, with Callant replacing Doltcini as title sponsor.
There was no change for World Champ Wout Van Aert, however it is rumoured Stevens could be replacing Felt as bike sponsor from 1st March, with riders reportedly unhappy with the current Felt Bikes. Van Aert’s teammates do see change however, with the Crelan Charles team changing kit to a more ‘striking’ green design!
There we no apparent changes for Vastgoedservice-Pauwels Sauzen, however a new team bus awaited the riders today in Baal! Would you like to see some team bus and truck tours next year?!
Team IKO-Beobank also had a new team bus – with Lotto Soudal reportedly gifting them this beast of a truck for the riders to use for the remainder of the season and beyond after the previous bus caught fire!
Sanne Cant remained on Stevens Bikes today, however new teammate Ceylin Alvarado was sporting the new Canyon
Talking of transfers, the Womens Scene has seen a lot of change. Firstly Helen Wyman will now be riding for new team/project Xypex-Verge Sport and will be riding KindHuman Bikes, after losing backing from long term partner Kona
Fellow Brit Nikki Brammeier also starts her own CX ‘project’ and will be another rider on Canyon Bikes as part of the Mudiita Canyon setup.
2016 World Champion Thalita de Jong also has a new team, moving from Lares Waowdeals to Experza-Footlogix for 2018 and is rumoured to be making her CX comeback next weekend in Lueven.