Mathieu van der Poel back to racing this weekend - Among rivals is... Alejandro Valverde

Mathieu van der Poel has had a superb year. As was the case last year he does not perform too often throughout the year but when he does, he hits hard. He has had two World titles and two monuments added to his palmarès and this Sunday he will race in Spain after concluding his racing season.

Likely he will not be in a competitive mood, but he will be taking part in the La Nucia Gran Fondo this Sunday where Alejandro Valverde will be present as another headliner. The likes of Gianni Vermeersch, Pablo Castrillo, Samuel Sánchez and Óscar Sevilla will be amongst the other stars present in the Spanish event, where the weather is currently better than throughout most of Europe.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider ended the season on great form, finishing on the podium of the Road Race World Championships won by Tadej Pogacar, and later on winning the gravel Worlds. He will likely be aiming for a 7th world title in cyclocross this winter and should begin his season somewhere in late November or December.