At the end of Wednesday's Koppenbergcross in Oudenaarde, Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) had to sprint for all he was worth to hold off European champion Toon Aerts and Lars van der Haar (both Telenet-Fidea). As soon as the Dutchman crossed the line he collapsed to the ground.

The domination of the 2017/18 cyclo-cross season by Mathieu van der Poel carried on in the Koppenbergcross on Wednesday. At the end of an exciting race, the Dutchman sprinted up the famous cobbled climb for the win.

French newspaper, Ouest France, has reported that Warren Barguil new team for 2018 has a new title sponsor and will be known as Fortuneo-Samsic next season.

The sad news came on Monday that the An Post-Chain Reaction team will not be in the peloton in 2018. Team founders Sean Kelly and Kurt Bogaerts have blamed Britain leaving European Union and the political problems in Cataluña for the sponsor problem.

It looks like cyclo-cross World champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) can only win of Mathieu van der Poel crashes, but he is collecting a lot of second places. In Ruddervoorde on Sunday the Belgian finished only 10 seconds behind Van der Poel, maybe when the bad weather comes, the results will be turned on their heads.

Two cross races at the weekend and two wins for Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon). On Sunday he was too good for World champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) and Lars van der Haar (Telenet-Fidea) in the Superprestige race in Ruddervoorde.

Another race, another win for Mathieu van der Poel. On Saturday the young Dutchman beat Toon Aerts (Bel) and Corne Van Kessel (Ned) in the Grote Prijs van Brabant with his usual domination. Sunday's Telenet Superprestige in Ruddervoorde should be a bit harder as World champion, Wout Van Aert (Bel) will be back in action.

The road season has come to an end with the Tour of Guangxi and the UCI Cycling Gala presentation. We can now concentrate on the muddy (although dry at the moment) weekend cyclo-cross warriors.

The mythical Alpe d'Huez makes its comeback to the Tour de France in 2018 and for sure those mad-men from Holland will be on 'Dutch Corner' for all the fun. Ed Hood was there the last time the French Grand Tour took in the Orange fun, read all about his adventure.