Van der Poel wants to be XCO World Champion in 2025

The mountain bike is back in Mathieu van der Poel's sights as he continues to yearn for the World Champion title missing from a collection of rainbow jerseys that already includes cyclocross and road jerseys he won in Glasgow. A return to mountain biking that would have another medium-term goal: Olympic gold in Los Angeles, another major piece that he still does not have.

Mathieu van der Poel hints at his plans for 2025

Without setting specific dates, Mathieu van der Poel hinted, in an extensive interview with the Belgian sports channel Sporza, at how and where we will see him throughout the year 2025. A season in which the spotlight will once again be on the cobbled classics where he will try to defend the Flanders-Roubaix double he achieved last year.

A season in which he also considers some changes in his path towards these races, such as his very likely participation in Paris-Nice instead of Tirreno-Adriatico, which has been his usual choice in search of doing something different, as Van der Poel is aware of how difficult it will be to beat Tadej Pogacar in the Tour of Flanders, a race in which, if he wins, he would become the cyclist with the most victories in De Ronde with a fourth win.

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In fact, the need to do different and tougher training is the reason why Van der Poel has decided not to include the Benidorm Cyclocross World Cup race in his winter calendar this season. "It's going to be difficult to beat him but I accept the challenge," commented the Alpecin-Deceuninck cyclist.

What Mathieu van der Poel has made clear is that this year he will not continue after Paris-Roubaix with the Ardennes classics. After the classics, his calendar is a mystery on the way to the Tour de France, a race with which he cannot establish an idyll since, according to his own words, "I prefer to race 5 races to win than 20 stages in which I don't participate to win half the time," in fact, his only motivation to be in the Tour de France is to help his teammate Jasper Philipsen win as he has done in the last two years with lead-outs that were worth half a stage.

In the remaining months of the road calendar, Mathieu van der Poel will focus on mountain biking with the goal of winning the rainbow jersey in XCO this season, one of the world titles that still eludes him even though he has only participated in it twice, resulting in a third place and a DNF.

A return to mountain biking that goes beyond this season, as in Mathieu van der Poel's mind is another thorn he has had since his tremendous crash in Tokyo. Obviously, we are talking about the gold, a goal that the Dutchman is considering right now as the Olympic cycle begins in what could be his last chance to face this challenge since, in 2028, he will be 33 years old.