Well, would you look at that? Cyclocross world champ–and UCI CX World Cup leader, Mathieu van der Poel, will be pinning a number on in España after all.

On Friday, van der Poel said he would not be racing the World Cup in Benidorm On Sunday. When the Alpecin–Premier Tech rider planned out his winter programme back in November, it was a maybe.

“We will decide based on whether I need an extra ‘cross race during my training camp in Spain or prefer road training,” Van der Poel said according to Het Laaste Nieuws. The Alpecin – Premier Tech rider said he would prefer to keep banging out some big miles in Spain. He’s been there just under two weeks doing some nutty riders with his teammates.

“Because I really need the endurance training, which I had to miss last month with that crossing, in anticipation of the classic spring on the road,” he said on Friday. “So a lot of hours are right, with the necessary breaks here and there in between. See you in Maasmechelen, guys!”

However, it seems you can’t keep the fiery spirit of a competitive dude like MvdP down.

“After a strong week of training, the urge to race was simply too great. Our world champion will defend his leader’s jersey in the World Cup,” Van der Poel’s team said on Instagram.

We will also be seeing a different kit for the Dutchman. He is currently leading the World Cup standings by ten points ahead of Thibau Nys. Since the World Cup leader’s jersey usurps the rainbow (similar to a leader’s jersey in stage race) he won’t be wearing rainbows, for once.

And as far as CanCrossCon goes, Cameron Jette and Cody Scott will be there in the elite men’s race. Rhett Bates will be racing the under-23 race..

Lucinda Brand, Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado, Inge van der Heijden, Aniek van Alphen, and Zoe Bäckstedt are heading to Spain. Puck Pieterse will not, however, after a nasty crash at the Dutch national champs. Rafaelle Carrier is also skipping the race. Sidney McGill and Nico Knoll, however, will be racing in Spain.

To watch the elite women’s and men’s races, tune into FloBikes.com. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have reports on all of the races right after, too.

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