Marianne Vos shoots for ninth cyclocross World title: "Marianne has to show that she belongs there"
Cyclocross
It was not always the plan of Marianne Vos to shoot for the cyclocross World Championships this winter but after solid ride at the Dutch Championships, she declares the race in Liévin her next big objective this winter.
"I chose a short program, this National Championship fit in nicely," she told WielerFlits after the National Championships. Before the home Championships, she had only participated in a single World Cup round. "I had a good feeling after Besançon (she finished fifth in her season debut, ed.) and after that I had good training. That was my choice," explains Vos.
Her run-up to the World Championships is, according to her own words, going well at the moment. "I feel good, but cyclocross is very specific and every lap is different. I feel good and I am now taking it week by week."
Visma | Lease a Bike team leader Jan Boven adds: "Ultimately, Gerben de Knegt has to make the selection, but we discussed this with him beforehand. Those conversations are going well, but ultimately Marianne has to show that she belongs there. That form building is going well, she is in Spain a lot and the evening after the National Championships she flies back there again."
The cyclocross campaign is also part of the build-up towards the spring classics for Vos, who hopes to do even better than last year when she triumphed at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Amstel Gold Race.
However it's clear that her road season will need to start a bit later than in 2024 if Vos is indeed going to participate at the cyclocross World Championships. "Everything is possible, I always say, but it's still about balance. There are choices in that. You can make the choice to continue, but then the spring can suddenly be very long. We will also make choices in that, unfortunately not all races are possible," she concludes.
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- maybe but i kinda doubt it. that’s basically the only life he’s ever known, right? was a celebrity athlete by the age ofof, what, 13 or 14? kid grew up with a microphone in his face. and while he’s not a wildly chatty, flamboyant interview subject (think sagan), he’s always genial and good natured. part of that is that he knows full well that he carries both alpecin and canyon on his back. while that burden is shared out more and more as things move forward, he has always seemed to accept responsibility for his considerable role in building those brands. as always though, who knows. he may not even fully understand why he hates the tour. if he does, i hope it’s something really weird! like he hates the way the french make hollandaise sauce and it just drives him INSANE the whole 3 weeks. “screw this, i’m DONE!” i guess he liked the hawaiian pizza he kept ordering at the giro.OCexile14-01-2025
- I beg to differ coz at that level, if you’re on his wheel, you’re basically getting a free lunch.Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Yeah well, it’s not really his call, he has his wish and bucket list but there’s a pecking order too and I’m sure the Vuelta saga is still in Visma’s head. But he seems to be free for Paris-Nice so not quite as bad as you present. He can concentrate on preparing himself for a GT podium spot next year coz that’s still unlikely right now as all hands are on deck for Vinny’s revenge ;-)Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Could it be that the Tour gets on his nerves for the commercial circus it becomes that no star can escape from, that it attracts a whole supplemental wholly different bunch of fans, “fans” and journalists that often lead exasperatingly embarrassing interviews for who knows who and that when you’ve been around and at the top so long, you just can’t be bothered with going through all that each day for a few cherries to pick when there are “purer” races for someone just interested in appropriate racing opportunities?Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Yeah, I figured that but even then, there are still a few who won all three consecutively. Those in the know know but these guys are interviewed for the public at large and should make efforts to express things better, especially when you see the amount of text wasted to explain more obvious details like uphill finishes being difficult, wow ;-)Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- I’m sure Nairo is drooling right now, but this will also be a “make or break “ moment for him.JoeyB14-01-2025
- “jonas will not race the giro.” thank god.OCexile14-01-2025
- In the end it doesn't matter, if the guy at the front is doing 7,5w/kg it doesn't matter whether he's yours or from a rivalvappaxbipmv14-01-2025
- A few weeks ago Matteo was talking about trying for GC and then he ends up being a domestique in every single stage race he does in 2025. Confusingvappaxbipmv14-01-2025
- yeah, i’m kinda bummed out that mathieu chose this year to blow off the Tour, just because of those Week 1 parcours. but he’s had stages that profile the same in previous tours i guess, and with the lone exception of the Mur de Bretagne stage when he took the yellow a few years back, he just doesn’t get up for much of anything at the tdf, other than leading out jasper. so if the Giro would light his fire in some way the Tour doesn’t, then cool. i guess i figured that if he disliked racing the Tour (which he clearly does) then he probably just didn’t like doing grand tours AT ALL. he’s a complicated guy, though. maybe there’s just some weird thing about the tdf that bugs him and other things about the Giro he digs. he certainly was animated through the whole race when he rode the giro in ‘22 (?), winning the combativity award by getting into break after break and charging up big mountainsides day after day. we’ll see.OCexile14-01-2025