{"id":7655,"date":"2025-01-24T15:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7655"},"modified":"2025-02-18T15:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:03:04","slug":"van-der-poel-returns-from-injury-for-cyclo-cross-world-cup-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/24\/van-der-poel-returns-from-injury-for-cyclo-cross-world-cup-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Van der Poel Returns from Injury for Cyclo-Cross World Cup Double"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday and Sunday, the final two races of the cyclo-cross World Cup competition will be held in Maasmechelen, Belgium, and Hoogerheide, the Netherlands, respectively. Perhaps more important, the two races also serve as warmups for the UCI World Championships, which will be held in the French town of Li\u00e9vin on February 2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Maasmechelen event will mark the return to racing of everybody\u2019s favourite for the world championship (as well as for both World Cup races), Mathieu van der Poel. The 29-year-old Alpecin Deceuninck rider, who has won six cyclo-cross world championships, including five of the last six, had his preparations disrupted due to a rib injury suffered in the fourth of the five consecutive races he won at the end of last year and was forced to sit out several races.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that the forced rest harmed his chances for the worlds. Van der Poel trains hard and is so superior to the rest of the field that he doesn\u2019t have to be the best to win. As he said<\/a> after winning his first race of this cyclo-cross season, the Zonhoven World Cup, on December 22, by 1:30, \u201cYes, it was a great victory today, but I preferred to save myself and stay in zone two throughout the race because I plan to do some high-intensity training this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right. Zone two. That must have warmed the hearts of the also-rans in that race, such as European champion Thibau Nys, who finished second, and the then Belgian champion, Eli Iserbyt, who finished eighth at 2:22. There\u2019s no debating the fact that, no matter how much we admire an athlete\u2019s dominance, his absence from the previous races made those races far more interesting because they were actually competitive and it wasn\u2019t clear until the end who would win.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A post shared by UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (@ucicyclocrossworldcup)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n