"I'm focused on a sixth cyclocross world title, I'm not thinking about anything else" - Mathieu van der Poel eyes Eric De Vlaeminck's seven cyclocross rainbow jerseys

Mathieu van der Poel will continue to race cyclocross and target the UCI World Championships at least into 2025 with the goal of equalling, or even bettering, the seven rainbow jerseys won by Eric De Vlaeminck. For 2024, however, the chance of two gold medals in the road race and mountain bike at the Paris Olympic Games is the Dutchman’s main goal.

He is the only one of the trio confirmed to ride the World Championships in the Czech city of Tabor on February 4 and he'll be taking aim at rainbow jersey number six. "It's one of the reasons why I still race cyclocross," van der Poel told La Gazzetta dello Sport during an exclusive interview.

Wout Van Aert scratched Zonhoven from his race schedule but recently confirmed he will end his cyclocross campaign in Benidorm to focus on and stay fresh for an intense spring of training and racing. "I know what Wout means but cyclocross is still a good way of preparing for my road season and the Worlds is still an objective," he said. "I don't know how I'll think about that in the years to come. Things will perhaps change."

"I'm focused on a sixth cyclocross world title, I'm not thinking about anything else," he explained. "I'll worry about planning the rest of my season after that. For sure the Olympics are the north star of my 2024 season. We've got to study the best path to Paris, perhaps combining it with the Tour de France, it's a difficult puzzle to work out. I still haven't decided if I'll just ride the road race or the mountain bike race or both."