After the Olympic disappointment, the Dutch champion has confirmed his presence at the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (Trentino, Italy, August 25-29). “I look forward to the World Champs: it would be cool to become World Champion in three disciplines, one day…”
The most recent image of Mathieu Van der Poel in a Mountain Bike competition showed him disappointed and sore in Japan. The Olympic race is now behind, and the Dutch champion sounds more motivated than ever.
The upcoming UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Daolasa di Commezzadura - Val di Sole, from August 25 to 29, are the next stop of Van der Poel’ season. The Dutchman is set to join the field of superstars in Trentino (Northern Italy), catalyzing the attention of the cycling world.
For Van Der Poel, the World Champs in Val di Sole represent an opportunity for revenge, a few weeks after the controversial fall that prematurely excluded him from the fight for medals in the Olympic Cross Country race. In Val di Sole, the Dutch hopes to conquer the Mountain Bike world title for the first time in his career.
“I look forward to the World Championships in Val di Sole. After the Olympic Games, it was important for me to quickly set new goals” – said Van der Poel. – “I really like coming to Val di Sole. It’s a nice track and I have very good memories of the place after winning the World Cup Cross-Country race in 2019”.
It was love at first sight between Van der Poel and Val di Sole: in 2018, the Dutchman took third place in his first appearance in Trentino, followed by two wins in 2019 edition, when the Dutchman claimed both the Short Track and Cross Country races of the UCI World Cup stage, giving the fans a great show and breaking the winning streak of Nino Schurter in Val di Sole.
Two years later, Mathieu Van der Poel will be back in Trentino with the chance to win, in addition to the Cross Country, on Saturday 28th August, also the first - historical - Short Track World Champion title, on Thursday 26th August, “but I will be focusing on the Cross-Country event in first place”.
After achieving the World Champion title in the cyclo-cross, Van der Poel targets the Mountain Bike world title in Val di Sole, and he will look to compete also for the Road World Championships in Leuven (Belgium). “It would be cool to become World Champion in three disciplines, one day. It would be very hard to make it in one year, but hopefully I’ll manage to do it once”.
Van der Poel’s rivals are nothing but top-level riders: from Swiss Mathias Flückiger, silver medallist in Tokyo 2020, to MTB legend Nino Schurter, Frenchmen Victor Koretzky and reigning World Champion Jordan Sarrou, as well as Czech Ondrej Cink, Spanish Olympic bronze medallist David Valero, Brazilian Henrique Avancini, and even the Italian Team, also looking for revenge in their home race after the disappointing Olympic performance.
The best riders in the world are set to ignite the passion of the Mountain Bike fans. For Saturday 28th August (Cross Country competitions) and Sunday 29th August (Downhill competitions) entry tickets will be required (on sale on www.valdisolebikeland.com), while on the other days the entry will be free, subject to availability, with a maximum number of spectators. To access the event, spectators from Italy and European Union countries must present a valid Green Pass.
