Van der Poel drops out of Nove Mesto at the last minute and there will be no showdown with Pidcock

The presence of Mathieu van der Poel in the XCO World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě lasted only a few hours. After the official accounts of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series announced on Tuesday that the Dutchman was a confirmed participant for the Czech event, the Alpecin-Deceuninck team denied the news and confirmed that he will not compete this weekend.

Van der Poel will not race in Nove Mesto despite the official World Cup announcement

The situation generated enormous anticipation because everything seemed to fit. The organization had published promotional messages talking about a possible great duel between Van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, even comparing their statistics and presenting the race as a “clash of titans from the road” transferred to XCO.

However, according to the team, Van der Poel never definitively confirmed his presence. There was a real possibility that he would race, and in fact, he had been provisionally registered on the start list for weeks. But the final decision did not come until this Tuesday and it was negative.

A real possibility that fell through at the last minute

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Everything indicates that the organization was still working with the idea that Van der Poel could be at the start in Nové Město. The problem is that the official announcement was published practically at the same time that the Dutchman made the final decision not to travel to the Czech Republic.

While the rest of the riders and teams were heading to Nové Město this Wednesday, Van der Poel was no longer among the names expected by Alpecin-Deceuninck to travel to the Czech circuit.

Even so, the official posts announcing his participation remained active hours after the team's correction was known, further fueling the confusion surrounding a presence that seemed practically confirmed.

Although he will not be in Nové Město this weekend, mountain biking still occupies an important place within Van der Poel's sporting goals. The Dutchman has never hidden that one of his great dreams is to conquer the rainbow jersey of XCO and add it to his collection of world titles in road, gravel, and cyclocross.