“), “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, ao-button”} }”>
Don't miss a moment of the 2024 Tour de France. Get the recap, insights and exclusive stories with Velo's daily newsletter. >”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Sign up now.
Can Mathieu van der Poel produce the mountain leg strength needed to defend his rainbow stripes against Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel in the extreme altitude of the Road World Championships?
A circuitous racing schedule will determine whether MVDP and his freshly cut blonde mullet can claim even more rainbows at the Zurich Road Race later next month.
Alpes-Deceuninck announced this week that their 29-year-old top rider will bypass the European road championships to pursue his climbing best in the Renévieve Tour in Belgium and the Tour of Luxembourg.
The double-denim Belgians have also confirmed that Jasper Philipsen will compete in the sprinters' classic race series ahead of the season finale at Paris-Tour.
Van der Poel acknowledged on Tuesday that a programme of riding through the mountains of Belgium and the flatlands of Luxembourg may not have been ideal preparation for the Zurich road race, whose demanding course includes the low Alps at an altitude of 4,000 metres.
“I needed to tweak my programme a bit,” van der Poel said on Tuesday ahead of the opening stage of the Tour de France at Renewi (formerly BinckBank). “The Vuelta a Espana was in the back of my mind, but in the end I chose this race.
“I was expecting more difficult stages,” he said Tuesday of the five-day race. “We just have to make do. Sunday is the only day it's really tough.”
Van der Poel admits it is a tricky schedule ahead of what is set to be a fierce battle for the world title with Tour de France winner Pogacar and Olympic winner Evenepoel.
But with just 29 days left until the 2024 road race, van der Poel and co. will be back to work.
“The Road World Championships is certainly a difficult course, but that doesn't mean Mathieu doesn't have a chance,” Dutch coach Koos Moelenhout told newspaper Willerfritz.
“If Tadej Pogacar or Remco Evenepoel are in good form it will be a difficult match, but it's the World Championships so it can and should be a difficult match,” Molenhout said this weekend. “The most important thing is that Mathieu plays at his highest level and then everything opens up.”
“Glasgow suited Mathieu better than Pogačar. Zurich will be the opposite.”
Van der Poel, Pogacar, Pedersen and van Aert battled it out in a spectacular road race final in Glasgow 2023. (Photo: Gruber Images/Velo)
The Netherlands' full selection for the Road Worlds will not be confirmed for some time.
But no matter how high the mountain he climbs, there's no denying that van der Poel, who dominated last year's Superworlds in Glasgow despite wearing a broken shoe, is at the heart of that orange action.
“Glasgow suited Mathieu better than Pogačar. It will be the other way around in Zurich,” Moelenhout told Wieler-Fritz this weekend, “but Mathieu definitely has a chance and I'm building the team around him.”
The World Championships will be another hugely successful but in some ways disappointing finale to the road season for van der Poel.
He conquered every cobbled track and became the first rider since Fabian Cancellara in 2013 to win both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same season.
This, combined with a win at the E3 Saxo Classics and third place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, has made MVDP's Spring 2024 one of his most impressive Classics campaigns in recent years.
A few months later came the relatively low-key Tour de France and the ruthlessly aggressive but ultimately fruitless Paris Olympic road race.
Since then, he has been riding long distances at Calpe with Evenepoel and has trimmed his mullet for the final push towards 2024.
Will van der Poel win the European title instead of the world title?
Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates Van der Poel and Philipsen will represent the Netherlands and Belgium at the European Championships (Photo: DAVID PINTENS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
Another big win would bring to an end an up-and-down season for van der Poel.
In fact, rather than the climber-focused World Road Race, the classics-style European Championships on September 15th will be van der Poel's best chance of winning the special new jersey.
Dutchmen MVDP and Olaf Kooij will be battling the Belgian sprinters on a course in van der Poel's favour in Limburg, Belgium, for a chance to win the Euro title.
Local speedsters Wout van Aert, Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier have been selected to attack on either flank of van der Poel and Kooy in their quest for Europe's top spot.
And what if van der Poel fails to achieve great things at the Euros or World Championships this September?
The enduring appeal of cyclocross is right there.
“I haven't thought about cross country yet,” van der Poel said Tuesday. “Will I run cross country this winter? I don't know.”
“That's still a question mark for me at this point,” he admitted. “I don't know yet.”
