Mathieu van der Poel will take on the XCO World Championships in Val di Sole on Sunday, one week after an encouraging return to mountain bike racing in Les Gets. Starting from the fifth row will make his task considerably harder, but the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider hopes to take another step towards his best mountain bike shape.
For Van der Poel, the return to mountain biking is about more than chasing results. After a successful road season and his recent altitude camp in Livigno, he has clearly enjoyed spending more time on the mountain bike again. “I really enjoy riding the mountain bike. Even just doing laps of a course like this is a nice training session in itself. You can play around a bit more on a mountain bike, and that’s something I really like. The descents here are great too. It’s simply fun to ride.”
Last weekend’s World Cup in Les Gets provided the first indication of where Van der Poel currently stands. After a difficult short track, he produced a much stronger performance in Sunday’s XCO. It left him encouraged heading into the World Championships, although experience has taught him not to draw too many conclusions from one race. “Les Gets went better than I expected. The short track wasn’t great, but on Sunday I already felt a lot better. Mountain biking doesn’t lie, so hopefully I can take another step here and reach my best MTB shape on Sunday. Last year Les Gets also went surprisingly well and then the World Championships were disappointing, so I know that one good race doesn’t guarantee anything.”
There is, however, an important difference compared to twelve months ago. Van der Poel feels he arrived at this part of the season in significantly better condition. “I came out of the Tour in much better shape this year, and winning on the Champs-Élysées obviously gave me a lot of confidence and motivation. Last year I wasn’t really at my normal level. This time the switch to the mountain bike has been much smoother. I also spent a lot of time on the MTB during my altitude camp in Livigno, and I think I needed that.”
fifth row challenge
The biggest obstacle on Sunday is one Van der Poel already knew about before arriving in Val di Sole. With the World Championships using a different starting procedure, he will have to begin the XCO from the fifth row. His experience in Les Gets, where a better starting position allowed him to become part of the race much more quickly, underlined just how important those opening positions can be in modern mountain biking.
“Starting from the fifth row obviously reduces my chances. In Les Gets I saw again how big the difference is when you start closer to the front: you’re immediately part of the race. If I really want to give myself the best possible chance of becoming world champion one day, I’ll probably need a season where I spend more time on the mountain bike so I can earn a place on one of those first two rows. For Sunday, though, the situation is what it is. I’ll have to make the best of it and maybe have a little bit of luck as well.”
Moving forward quickly will be important, but Van der Poel knows from experience that trying to make up too many places too soon comes with its own risks. “Last year I actually had a good start, but I was probably a little too eager to move up immediately. If you go too deep early on, you pay for it straight away, and often that’s exactly when the guys at the front accelerate again. But at the same time you don’t want to lose contact with the race. Finding that balance will be important.”
Matteo Berta
As in Les Gets, Alpecin-Premier Tech has brought in technical coach Matteo Berta to assist with the preparation. Berta scouts the course and works with the riders on details such as line choice, allowing Van der Poel to focus more specifically on the technical demands of the Val di Sole course. “My team has brought in Matteo Berta as a technical coach, which is really useful. He was with us in Les Gets as well. He checks the course beforehand and helps us with things like finding the best lines. Having someone who can focus specifically on those details definitely helps.”
An XCO world title remains one of the major ambitions still on Van der Poel’s list. But he does not see Sunday as a now-or-never opportunity. “It’s definitely an important goal for me, but I think it would be too simplistic to say I need an MTB world title for my career to be successful. I wouldn’t look back on my career disappointed if I never won it. But of course I really want to add it to my palmarès. If it doesn’t happen this year, hopefully there will be another opportunity.”
And that opportunity could eventually come with a different approach. Van der Poel acknowledges that he would like, at some point, to build a season with more room for mountain biking - giving him not only more preparation time, but also the chance to improve his starting position for the sport’s biggest races. “I’d definitely like to have a year where I can put a bit more focus on mountain biking. But that’s something that has to be discussed with the team because there are other commitments too. I fully understand how important a race like the Tour de France is for the team. It’s about finding the right balance. But yes, I’d like to give it a proper try.”
For now, that longer-term discussion can wait. On Sunday in Val di Sole, Van der Poel starts from row five with a difficult task ahead of him. But also with better sensations, more mountain bike preparation in his legs and the confidence that his return to the discipline is moving in the right direction.
