“It’s the same story as last year... I don’t have an explanation” - Mathieu van der Poel baffled as another MTB Worlds disappointment dashes Rainbow Jersey dream

Mathieu van der Poel was left searching for answers after another Mountain Bike World Championships ended in disappointment, with the Dutchman admitting he had no explanation for finishing 30th in Val di Sole despite arriving in Italy feeling good.

Van der Poel had travelled to the 2026 World Championships with renewed hope of finally adding the elite XCO rainbow jersey to the world titles he has already won on the road, in cyclocross and on gravel.

There had been genuine reason for optimism. Just a week earlier, the 31-year-old had finished second at the World Cup in Les Gets, while his training in the days leading into the Worlds had given him no indication that anything was wrong.

"I just didn't have any power in my legs today. It simply wasn't good," Van der Poel admitted afterwards in quotes reported by Nu.nl. "I felt good last week and this week in training, but a mountain bike course doesn't lie."

Van der Poel started from the fifth row alongside eventual world champion Tom Pidcock, leaving both riders with significant ground to recover in the opening stages.

Pidcock surged through from around 32nd after the start loop, reached the leaders and eventually rode clear to take the rainbow jersey. Van der Poel struggled to make comparable progress and was already around a minute and 40 seconds behind midway through the race.

By the finish, he had slipped to 30th, 4:44 behind Pidcock. "I realised quite early in the race that I had bad legs. That's why this performance is unexpected for me as well," he explained. "It's the same story as last year. The race before the World Championships was good and at the World Championships itself I was bad. I don't have an explanation for that yet."

The pattern was strikingly similar to 2025, when Van der Poel also showed encouraging form before the World Championships only to finish 29th when the rainbow jersey was on the line. "Those bad results are starting to pile up a little now, that's true," he admitted. "But last year I could feel it coming that I wasn't 100 percent at the World Championships. This time I expected a lot more from it. But I can't change anything about it now. Unfortunately, days like this happen too."

Van der Poel's latest attempt to complete his collection of rainbow jerseys ended without him ever reaching the front of the race. Pidcock converted the same fifth-row starting position into another world title; Van der Poel left Val di Sole with another MTB Worlds result he could not explain.

His attention now turns back to the road, with the World Championships in Montreal four weeks away and another shot at the rainbow jersey in the discipline where he became world champion in 2023.