Mathieu van der Poel will not be making a surprise return to mountain biking this weekend after all, despite being uneviled as a competitor for the Nové Město round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
On Tuesday, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series social media accounts announced the multi-discipline star as having “entered to race in Nové Město on Sunday”. A follow-up post compared his stats with those of Tom Pidcock, billing the XC race as a “clash of the road titans”.
On the same day, the event’s organisation – a joint venture between the UCI and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports – published their social media posts announcing his presence.
MVDP’s MTB ambitions
Van der Poel has raced cross-country mountain bike throughout his career, and it remains a focus as the Dutchman looks to expand his collection of rainbow jerseys.
Already a world champion in road, gravel, and cyclo-cross (eight times), an MTB world title would cement Van der Poel’s legacy as a multi-disciplinary star of the sport.
The MTB has not been as kind to Van der Poel as the road or cyclo-cross, in each of which he has established himself among the all-time greats. His bid for Olympic gold went up in smoke due to a dramatic crash at the Tokyo Games in 2021, and the World Championships have always eluded him – most recently last year, after his MTB campaign had kicked off with an early crash and abandon at Nové Město.
Van der Poel has…
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