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Van der Poel undecided between Tour de France, MTB Olympics and Road

You can't do everything in life but Mathieu Van der Poel is continuing to think about how to fit all these events within a few days of each other.

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Van der Poel in yellow in 2021 - credits: sky sports

Mathieu van der Poel held a press conference yesterday in Spain (where he is preparing the start of the cyclocross season with the usual preparation stop in Benicassim) and talked about his 2024 season. He also hinted that he might not be at the Olympics of Paris 2024 on the road to compete in MTB, but there are still many doubts.

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Mathieu Van der Poel wins the 2023 road world championship – credits: Eurosport

Mathieu van der Poel announced some time ago that he will have to make some decisions regarding his calendar. In his head, this time, it is clear that one cannot be on all fronts and he does not want to make the mistake of last year at the MTB World Championships, where he arrived unloaded from the road world championships. Tour de France, Olympic XCO event and Olympic road event are no joke: and all these events are separated by just a few days apart.

Mathieu van der Poel has made it clear that the idea of ​​abandoning the Tour de France prematurely is not part of his plans.

There are several options on the table right now. The Tour de France ends just 8 days before the XCO event of the Olympics takes place. Maybe I'll race the Tour de France and then do the road test at the Olympics. Or he'll snub the Tour de France and do the Olympic XCO and road trials. What is clear is that he will not race the Tour de France to abandon as I did for Tokyo – Mathieu Van der Poel

van der poel wins in benidorm 2023
Mathieu Van der Poel – ©Eurosport/GCN

The Olympic road race takes place two weeks after the Tour de France and is an ideal scenario. You can compare it to what happened this year at the World Championships in Glasgow, where I had previously achieved a very good level also participating in the Tour de France. But this casts doubt on the Olympic MTB trial in the middle – Mathieu Van der Poel

Let's remember that the Olympic road test fits Van der Poel's physical characteristics perfectly. Beyond these statements, Mathieu van der Poel has shown no interest in taking part in the XCO World Cup events and, with 0 UCI points, things will not be easy for him despite the new UCI rule for starts.

CICLOCROSS

Last week I went to Belgium for a few days and did my first cyclocross training. Today I trained on the beach with a cyclocross bike for the second time, here in Spain. My road form is good, but it's not always a reference for cyclocross calling for different efforts – Mathieu Van der Poel

We remind you that Mathieu Van der Poel will participate in the Cyclocross World Championships this year which will be held in Tabor on 3/4 February 2024. His goal is to equal the record of 7 Cyclocross World Championships won by Eric De Vlaeminck.

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Mathieu Van der Poel in Val di Sole (Credits: Giacomo Podetti)

I should be in my best shape for the World Championship, regardless of whether Wout van Aert or Tom Pidcock participates. I have to be 100%. The record is one of the reasons I continue to compete in cyclocross. If it weren't for this I wouldn't have much motivation – Mathieu Van der Poel

There has been no shortage of controversy between the UCI and the Cyclocross World Cup. It has recently been commented in the media that perhaps the UCI should adapt the calendar to make it easier for cyclists like Van der Poel to compete.

I don't think they have to adapt to us. Cyclocross is a separate discipline. If we want to compete we must adapt to their calendar and not the other way around – Mathieu Van der Poel

Naturally he completely avoided evaluating the opinion of the UCI president who argued that perhaps anyone who wants to compete in the World Cup should be forced to compete in the World Cup. All this following the fact that other top cyclocross athletes are snubbing the overall World Cup to keep in top shape for other events.



Written by

[email protected] I am a fan of everything that has 2 wheels: at a young age I practiced road and track cycling (Italian Allievi champion). At the age of 18 I passed into the cross country competing at national/international level as an Under23. Past Elite, I made the choice to take things more lightly from a training point of view, and my love for gravity disciplines was born, training me as an FCI MTB instructor and guide. Now I have made passion my profession by managing 2 MTB centers on the island of Elba (Bike Center Elba and Elba MTB), creating the FANTAmtb and telling in an ironic but professional way everything that revolves around MTB thanks to 365mountainbike and 365TV (YouTube'PULITI dentro BIKER fuori').

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