Van der Poel returns to XCO on May 18th

The recent winner of the Paris-Roubaix Mathieu van der Poel already has his sights set on his desired mountain bike season. The Dutchman will start competing in XCO on May 18th and it will be the first time he does so since 2023.

Van der Poel will start his MTB season on May 18th

One of Mathieu van der Poel's main goals for the 2025 season is the XCO World Championship (September 9-14 in Crans Montana, Switzerland) and to be in top form he will participate in several previous XCO races. It was expected that his return to competition would be at the next XCO World Cup to be held in Nove Mesto on May 23-25, but now we have just learned that the Dutchman will first test himself in Germany.

The organization of the Bike the Rock event, a race within the German MTB Bundesliga, has confirmed that Van der Poel will be on the starting line on May 18th.

 

 

 

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Now it remains to be seen if Van der Poel's presence attracts other current XCO stars, something that wouldn't be surprising since the XCO World Cup calendar has left more than a month gap between the first races in Brazil and the upcoming one in Nove Mesto.