"If there is one man who does not qualify for that curse, it is Mathieu van der Poel" - No chance of Rainbow Jersey curse striking in 2024 believes Jose de Cauwer
CyclingWednesday, 21 February 2024 at 20:24
In recent years, a theory has emerged that suggests the winner of the men's elite road race at the World Championships and subsequent Rainbow Jersey wearer struggles the year after.
Mathieu van der Poel will be the man in the iconic jersey in 2024 and in a recent conversation with the Sporza, the Dutch superstar questioned the channel's analysts as to whether or not he himself will be a victim of the supposed curse. "Do you believe in the curse of the rainbow jersey or is that a myth?" van der Poel asked.
Click
here to create your own team for the Fantasy Spring Classics Men. At least $4300/€4,000/£3,420
in prizes!
"If there is one man who does not qualify for that curse, it is Mathieu van der Poel," laughs the vastly experienced Jose de Cauwer, clearly not seeing any merit in the idea. His colleague, Karl Vannieuwkerke however believes he has seen examples of the curse in the past.
"It depends on who becomes world champion but I don't see it happening with van der Poel," Vannieuwkerke elaborates. "In the past, as a world champion you had to live in the winter with many more obligations and that curse was a consequence of that. Now the riders are better protected."
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- And looking old and tired. Don’t really understand what fans were expecting from either of the two in the last days after what they did these 3 weeks.Mistermaumau26-07-2025
- Definitely time to start handing out punishment for mobbing, intimidation and such considering it is often strategically used. That’s only one step down from the next level of action, making someone fall if no-one is paying attention or it can be made to look like an accident.Mistermaumau26-07-2025
- You may be right on a lot of things but maybe not the buyout. If Soudal feel he will go anyway, they’ll likely take 2 coz he’s not going to be worth that much to them until next year when they will get sweet f.a. Nobody is going to offer 10 or even 5 if they know they can get him free next year. The party that has the biggest interest in waiting it out is actually probably Remco himself. Next year without the buyout, there will be more available for offering in salary and there could also be more teams bidding without the extra cost. Pecking order might also be a bit clearer by then what with all the new data from the Tour to consider and the unhappy marriages to resolve.Mistermaumau26-07-2025
- They are both cooked. I wonder if Tadej will go to the Vuelta? If Jonas goes I doubt he will. I believe his cold was much worse than he let on. This last week he has been a bit more serious than usual.awp26-07-2025
- Not a bad theory.awp26-07-2025
- Anyone who can ride at 400 watts plus up a mountain top finish after 120 miles at an average of 26 mph is doing something serious for recovery, a bit more than drinking a cherry drink at the end of the stage.awp26-07-2025
- Jonas was at his maximum, I figure they are all tired, the GC is set, no need to race now.awp26-07-2025
- They aren't letting him go for 2M even though he has just one year left, if he's going it will be closer to 10M at least. I don't believe he is going to a german team that has a clear german leader who is a year younger and potentially a better stage racer than Remco. This makes no sense for Bora and if true it makes little sense for Remco to join a team where he has to compete for leadership from day one.awp26-07-2025
- Pogi said he was hoping Jonas would start his sprint in time for them both to catch Arensman (and then he would use his last reserves of energy to go for the win). But Jonas had the same plan for Pogi, and so waited a few seconds too long before sprinting. When Pog saw that Arensman would win, there was no point coming past Jonas.Hill3326-07-2025
- LA’s desperate attempts at continuing relevance.mobk26-07-2025
Tell that to Pogi lmfao
The only reason that 'curse' existed was because all that 'won' the world's where on the gear and couldn't replicate performance + agreements with other riders..