What happened in Nove Mesto the last time Van der Poel competed?

The organizer of the Nove Mesto World Cup made a post on social media this week encouraging rumors about the possible participation of Mathieu van der Poel on May 23-25 at the considered XCO Cathedral. A highly anticipated return since the last time the Dutchman competed there in 2021.

Nove Mesto is also a special circuit for Mathieu van der Poel 

As we mentioned, in 2021 Mathieu van der Poel competed on this circuit for the last time, and he did so in an exciting duel with the British Tom Pidcock. During the Short Track, Van der Poel showed his power to beat Pidcock in a frenetic race.

 

 

 

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In the XCO race, Pidcock was determined to start writing his story in MTB and took the victory ahead of Van der Poel after a powerful attack from the middle of the race. That would be Pidcock's first elite victory in the XCO World Cup.

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But perhaps Van der Poel's best performance in Nove Mesto was in the 2019 XCO race, where he defeated one of the best versions of Nino Schurter, with a lightning attack of over 1 minute that went straight into the history of this sport. It is with that video that the organization wanted to remember 

 

 

 

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As we already mentioned in the preview, apart from the confirmation of Mathieu van der Poel, what seems certain is that Nove Mesto will be the chosen event for the debut of great stars of the discipline, such as the current world champions Alana Hatherly and Puck Pieterse.