Van der Poel ready to race World Cup Namur – 'he's had enough of training'
At the announcement of Mathieu van der Poel's winter programme, the Namur round of the UCI World Cup remained a TBC – along with Benidorm on 18th January – but a week before the World Cup's return to Belgian soil, the world champion's presence has been all but confirmed.
"I have the feeling he's had enough of training. He's ready to come to Belgium and compete," Alpecin-Deceuninck team manager Christoph Roodhooft told Sporza at the team's press conference on Friday, where new co-sponsor Premier Tech was announced. "As things stand now, we can be almost certain that Mathieu will be at the start in Namur. Mathieu is fine and has trained well."
That puts Van der Poel's cyclocross schedule at a minimum 12 races, assuming there are no issues or injuries suffered along the way.
"He hasn't ridden his cyclocross bike yet, that will probably happen some time next week," Roodhooft added. In the meantime, Van der Poel has been keeping busy training on the road in Spain, "It's a build-up we've always been doing in recent years towards the World Championships."
The full schedule:
- World Cup – Namur: December 14
- World Cup – Antwerp: December 20
- World Cup – Koksijde: December 21
- X2O Badkamers – Hofstade: December 22
- World Cup – Gavere: December 26
- X2O Badkamers – Azencross, Loenhout: December 29
- X2O Badkamers – GP Sven Nys: January 1
- Exact Cross – Mol: January 2
- World Cup – Zonhoven: January 4
- World Cup – Benidorm: January 18 (TBC)
- World Cup – Maasmechelen: January 24
- World Cup – Hoogerheide: January 25
- World Championships – Hulst: February 2
