Mathieu van der Poel returns to mountain bike racing in Les Gets with unfinished business at Worlds

Van der Poel has not raced since his memorable victory on the Champs Élysées on the final day of the Tour de France. In Paris, the Dutchman produced one of the rides of the race, attacking on the final lap with Tadej Pogačar and holding off the chasers to take a spectacular win in the French capital.

That victory on July 26 was his final race before switching his attention to the mountain bike. In the weeks since, Van der Poel has spent time training at altitude in Livigno, with the World Championships in Val di Sole his main target.

His return will come on Sunday in Les Gets, where he will line up in the elite cross country race. It is expected to be his only mountain bike race before the World Championships on August 30.

Les Gets is familiar ground for the Dutchman. Van der Poel also raced there last year, when he finished sixth in the World Cup cross country race. It was an encouraging result given his limited preparation and starting position, and showed that he was still capable of mixing it with riders who spend their entire season on the mountain bike circuit.

His World Championships two weeks later did not go as well. In Crans Montana, Van der Poel finished 29th after losing contact with the leaders as the race developed.

The mountain bike world title is now the only rainbow jersey missing from Van der Poel’s remarkable collection. He has already won eight cyclocross world titles, claimed the rainbow jersey on the road and became gravel world champion. His best result at the Mountain Bike World Championships remains the bronze medal he won in Lenzerheide in 2018.

His more recent attempts have been less successful. At the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow, Van der Poel crashed on the opening lap and was forced to abandon, while last year’s race in Crans Montana ended with that 29th place finish.

His appearance in Les Gets also has some relevance beyond this season. The French venue will host the Mountain Bike World Championships in 2027 as part of the UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute Savoie.

What comes after Val di Sole is less certain. Van der Poel could return to the road in September, with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal among the possible preparation races ahead of the Road World Championships in Montréal on September 27. 

No final decision on that part of his programme has yet been announced. The Montréal course could strengthen the case for another tilt at the rainbow jersey. Van der Poel skipped last year’s World Championships in Kigali, believing a route with almost 5,500 metres of climbing was too demanding for his characteristics. A year earlier in Zürich, he took bronze on a course featuring close to 4,500 metres of elevation gain.

Montréal presents a different challenge. With around 3,800 metres of climbing on the menu, the course appears better suited to Van der Poel and is considerably closer to the 3,600 metres he conquered on his way to the world title in Glasgow in 2023.

Before any decisions are made about another shot at the road rainbow jersey, however, Van der Poel’s attention will first turn to the one that is still missing from his collection: the mountain bike world title.