Mathieu van der Poel announces ten cyclocross races

Mathieu van der Poel announces ten cyclocross races

Mathieu van der Poel has revealed his cyclocross schedule for the winter. The reigning world champion aims for five World Cup races to acquire a front row start place at the Fayetteville World Championships next year and adds three races from the X2O classification to his program.

Mathieu van der Poel was the last of the ‘big three’ to announce his cyclocross schedule for this winter. Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock already filled their calendars with appointments in the mud and sand. Van der Poel starts his offroad off season on Saturday 18 December in the Dutch town of Rucphen and continues the day after on the iconic Citadelle of Namur in Belgium, a race he won five times in total including the three most recent editions.

On the 26th of December Van der Poel will meet his rival Wout van Aert for the first time at the World Cup race at Dendermonde, Belgium. In 2020 the Dutchman lost against Van Aert by over two minutes. The Alpecin-Fenix rider will also ride the other two remaining Dutch World Cups in Hulst (2 January) and Hoogerheide (23 January), a week before the World Championships in Fayetteville. Van der Poel focuses on the World Cup races because he wants to be on the first start row. That position is defined by points obtained in the 16 World Cup races this season. He now only has his 400 points from the 2021 world title to count on. That means he is just outside of the top 20 on the ranking.

Next to the five World Cup races, two in Belgium and three in the Netherlands, Van der Poel rides the X20 races in Loenhout (30 December), a race he won in the last three years, the race in Hamme (22 January), a race he won the last five editions of and Herentals Crosst (5 January). Van der Poel will also defend his national title in Zaltbommel on 9 January.

In the 2020/2021 the Dutchman rode 14 cyclocross races, won ten and was second in the four others. For this season ten races are now on the preliminary schedule. He has already confirmed he will participate in the world championships whereas Wout van Aert is still doubting whether he will travel to the USA. The score between the two is now four rainbow jerseys for Van der Poel and three for Van Aert. To be continued.

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By: José Been
Title: Mathieu van der Poel announces ten cyclocross races
Sourced From: cyclingtips.com/2021/11/mathieu-van-der-poel-announces-ten-cyclocross-races/
Published Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:34:41 +0000