“He wants to see where he stands in Nove Mesto” – De Knegt previews Mathieu van der Poel’s mountain bike return

Mathieu van der Poel is set to return to mountain biking this weekend at Nove Mesto, marking his first race appearance since storming to a third Paris-Roubaix victory last month. Now 30 years old, the Dutch superstar is turning his focus to an ambitious new target: the mountain bike world title.

If successful, Van der Poel would add the MTB rainbow jersey to his already remarkable collection, which includes seven cyclocross world titles, one on the road, and one in gravel. Van der Poel has previously said that this is the title he wants more than any other, before the end of his career. But national coach Gerben de Knegt has cautioned that expectations should be tempered, for now.

“I heard that he wants to see where he stands in Nove Mesto. There was some time for that now,” De Knegt told Sporza. “He can't have made a big goal of it, because there wasn't that much time to prepare.”

De Knegt confirmed that Van der Poel will start from the fifth row this weekend, position 33, thanks to a UCI rule allowing top-10 riders from other disciplines to enter at that rank. “That will be a bit,” he admitted. “I don’t see how he can get more points in a small number of World Cups.”