Marianne Vos shot out of the blocks at Saturday’s Superprestige cyclocross race in Merksplas, but the world champion soon paid the price.
After slipping back through the field to finish down in 10th place, Vos has now pulled out of the weekend’s main appointment, the World Cup event in Overijse on Sunday.
“[She] deduced that pushing the limits tomorrow would not be a good idea,” read a statement from the Jumbo-Visma team.
“She will therefore pass up the World Cup race in Overijse.”
Vos made a scorching start on Saturday, sprinting from the front row to take pole position into the first corner. From there, she put the hammer down and had soon broken up the field, with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado the only rider able to stay on terms.
She had to let Alvarado through as she had problems clipping in, and then started to lose some ground in the second half of the circuit, but still crossed the line at the end of the first lap in clear second place.
However, the writing was on the wall and she lost her way on the second lap, slipping to ninth place. From there she ground her way to hang onto a top 10 but was clearly far from her best.
“I got off to a strong start, which gave me extra motivation. I knew the first stretch was difficult and that riding your own lines has its benefits,” said Vos.
“I was really at my limit when Ceylin took over. From then on, I had to ride my own pace, and I had to work hard.”
Alvarado herself described Vos’ scorching opening lap as “a good lead-out”, and it may simply be that she went too hard too early and failed to recover. There were no major incidents or crashes but she looked to be suffering from the second lap.
In any case, the decision has been made to skip a round of the World Cup in order to avoid any risk.
Vos, who won her eighth cyclocross world title back in January, started her 2022-2023 season at the end of October, placing 6th at the World Cup in Maasmechelen, 9th at the European Championships, and 5th at the World Cup in Bergen, ahead of Saturday’s showing in Merksplas.
She is scheduled to be back in the field next weekend and compete all the way through the World Championships in Hoogerheide on February 5.
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