Marianne Vos on the path to defend her World championships title - "I will have a main goal almost every week"

Marianne Vos didn't had his best cyclocross campaign so far, and has been doing cyclocross with the road cycling season in his mind. Still the veteran Dutchwoman returned to race in Koksijde where she finished 5th with a solid performance ahead of riders like Denise Betsema.

"It went well and I am quite satisfied. You think you can ride nice lines, but suddenly you get completely stuck in that sand. But that's just part of the game. I don't think anyone can ride clear on the course in Koksijde. I'm really satisfied with my first cross in weeks", stated Vos to In der Leiderstrui journal, about her recent cyclocross race.

Her cyclocross goals consist on winning the Dutch cyclocross national championship for the 8th time and prolonging her cyclocross world championship title, "Those are really the two things I am working towards. The national championships are coming soon and that is one of the reasons to start here in Koksijde and on Sunday 8 January in Zonhoven'", she says.

All of this with the road season already in mind, "When drawing up my cyclocross schedule, the road season was taken into account. Hence the choice for a long break between Kortrijk and Koksijde, which includes an altitude training. But it is certainly not the intention to forget cross-country. Every cross I ride, I just want to be at my best" explained Vos.

She also has great road ambitions but her goals aren't that defined has in cyclocross, "There are so many great races You shouldn't want to choose one race from all those beautiful races. Of course it starts in not too long with the spring classics. Then I will have a main goal almost every week. It's difficult to choose one of those then. But you shouldn't want to choose between them either. If you can win one of them, or at least win it as a team, then I think you can and should be very happy with that already", she comment.

"There are just so many great things. Three grand tours, spring classics and also the championships (NK and WC, ed.)" she concluded about this topic. Meaning that Vos will probably target the most races possible she can race.

Jumbo-Visma sign Fem Van Empel, another cyclocross rising star, she is only 20-year-old and despite the fact that Van Empel has yet to discover almost everything in road cycling, the Dutch team already has big plans. In the corridors, she is even already being called "the new Marianne Vos" or "the new Annemiek van Vleuten".

"Fem has a lot of potential. This is obviously already coming out in the cross. I'm actually convinced it can go fast on the road as well. It's not like I literally take on that role of mentor, i am pretty sure that at Jumbo-Visma they will deal with this in a very good way, The team will absolutely make sure Fem can already show her qualities. But at some moments you also have to be careful" said Vos about her new teammate that has a very promising future ahead of her.

Cycling fans, expect that the 35 year old Vos will be a mentor to the young talented Empel, but Marianne Vos rejects that Empel will be dependent of her.

"I think Fem herself knows very well what she can do and what she wants. It is not that I literally take on that role of mentor. But you take each other along and you ask each other for advice once in a while. That goes back and forth. As far as I know Fem now, she is tremendously easy to get along with. She is very eager to learn and picks up things very quickly. Then it's just great to have each other and to pull together", ended the legendary women's cyclist about the dynamics with her new teammate.