‘I will need a bit of luck’ – Mathieu van der Poel delivers strong mountain bike return at Les Gets but keeps a lid on World Championships expectations

Van der Poel’s returns to mountain biking from the road have not always run smoothly, with two crashes in his Nové Mesto foray last year, but at Les Gets he didn’t set a foot wrong despite the focus being necessarily on the Tour de France up until last month.

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

“After the Tour de France and the victory on the Champs-Élysées, I took a few days off to enjoy the moment. Then I resumed training and went to Livigno for an altitude camp, specifically to prepare for this mountain bike block,” said Van der Poel earlier in the weekend. “I came out of the Tour in good shape and feel that I recovered well from it.”

The results were a testament to this, with the second place being a step up from the sixth last year, though the key test is ahead with the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships this weekend.

“Trying to become world champion in this discipline one day is still a big goal. I have a few years and I want to take every opportunity I get,” said the rider who has already swept up eight cyclo-cross world titles, plus a road and gravel one.

Still, even with the strong performance on Sunday, Van der Poel is taking nothing for granted when it comes to the rainbow jersey race in Val di Sole.

“It’s nice, but last year I did a good performance here and the week after in Crans Montana I was not so good,” said Van der Poel who came 29th in the XCO at Worlds last year. “So like I said, I think the starting position is quite important, and I will be again in the fifth row there, so I will need a bit of luck.”