The World Cup season in mountain biking starts next weekend without Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutch all-rounder still has Olympic ambitions on the mountain bike, but the road to Paris is complicated. How is that exactly?
Van der Poel actually planned to get on a mountain bike this month. The 28-year-old Dutchman wanted to ride the World Cups in Valkenburg (last week) and Nove Mesto (next weekend). That idea was canceled when the new World Cup in Valkenburg was cancelled. As a result, the very disappointing Olympic race in Tokyo will remain his last mountain bike race for a while. ‘VDP’ fell over a bar two years ago and did not finish.
Van der Poel is currently fully focusing on road cycling. The Tour de France and the World Road Championships are the main goals of ‘VDP’ in the second part of the season. That makes placement for the Games on the mountain bike quite a puzzle.
Programma Mathieu van der Poel
- Eind mei/begin juni: Hoogtestage in Frankrijk
- 11-18-juni: Ronde van Zwitserland
- 1-23 juli: Tour de France
- 6 augustus: WK-wegrit (Glasgow)
This is how the Olympic qualification works in mountain biking:
- There is a olympic rank per country. Mountain bikers can score points in races between May 7, 2022 and May 26, 2024. The points of the best three riders per country are added together.
- The numbers one to eight on the Olympic ranking of May 28, 2024 will receive two starting places (per gender) in Paris.
- The countries that are in places nine to nineteen may send one mountain biker.
- Then there’s another back door at this year’s World Cup (August 12 in Glasgow). The two best riders in the elite race and in the race for U23 from countries that have not yet qualified via the Olympic ranking earn an Olympic ticket. That means that a tenth or fifteenth place in Glasgow could just be enough.
Ontvang meldingen bij belangrijke ontwikkelingen rondom Mathieu van der Poel
The Netherlands is currently only thirtieth in the Olympic ranking for men. The difference with number nineteen Romania is quite large: 759 points. That is roughly equivalent to three victories in a World Cup competition (250 points per victory). “Two starting places in Paris seems impossible to me,” says national coach Gerben de Knegt in conversation with NU.nl. “Getting into the top nineteen and earning one ticket like that should still be possible.”
The big question is: who will collect those points for the Netherlands? Van der Poel could score a lot. But then he has to participate in mountain bike races and therein lies the problem. “Olympic qualification on the mountain bike also depends on how much time Mathieu wants to invest in it. We cannot conjure up a ticket for Paris,” says De Knegt.
“I recently indicated to Mathieu and his team once again how we as the Netherlands are doing towards Paris. It is now up to them to see whether Mathieu’s program can still be adjusted. That is a difficult puzzle, because I understand that he has obligations to his team on the road.”
Wereldbekerkalender 2023
- 12-14 mei: Nové Mesto (Tsjechië)
- 9-11 juni: Lenzerheide (Zwitserland)
- 15-18 juni: Leogang (Oostenrijk)
- 30 juni-2 juli: Val di Sole (Italië)
- 25-27 augustus: Pal Arinsal (Andorra)
- 7-10 september: Les Portes du Soleil (Frankrijk)
- 28 september-1 oktober: Snowshoe (VS)
- 6-8 oktober: Mont-Sainte-Anne (Canada)
Participating in the World Cup this year seems to be the easiest route for Van der Poel. He will be in Glasgow at the beginning of August anyway for the title fight on the road. The mountain bike race is six days later in the same Scottish city. But the problem is that Van der Poel will hardly have time to train on the mountain bike due to his Tour participation.
“But Mathieu can certainly combine the two World Cups,” says De Knegt. “He can score points for the Olympic ranking in Glasgow or earn a ticket for Paris through the back door. No extensive preparation is required for that.”
What is the role of Milan Vader, the number ten in Tokyo? The 27-year-old Vader has been driving at Jumbo-Visma since 2022, so that he also focuses mainly on a road career. In addition, he was seriously injured in a fall in the Tour of the Basque Country last year. De Zeeuw has now fully recovered and will compete in the World Cup in Nove Mesto next weekend. Next month he will also be on the starting list in Leogang and Lenzerheide. Then he will draw up the balance.
“If Milan commits to a full World Cup season, he will certainly get a thousand points for the Olympic ranking,” says De Knegt. “But Milan says: ‘I can do that, but if we only have one Olympic ticket, it will probably go to Van der Poel and not to me.’ And that’s not an illogical thought.”
David Nordemann is the second Dutch man on the start list in Nove Mesto. The 25-year-old from Nijmegen is a full-time mountain biker, participates in many competitions and could well take the most points for the Olympic ranking. Nevertheless, the chance is very small that Nordemann will be allowed to go to Paris. “David is very down-to-earth about it,” says De Knegt. “It is also questionable whether he will meet the national qualification requirement.”
Dutch mountain bikers must meet one of these three requirements to be allowed to go to Paris:
- Finish in the top twelve at the 2023 World Cup.
- Finish in the top eight at the 2023 or 2024 European Championships.
- Finish in the top eight at a predetermined World Cup event between January 2023 and May 26, 2024.
For Van der Poel this should normally not be a problem. De Knegt hopes that Vader will also meet the requirements of sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF. “That is nice if it turns out that Mathieu cannot participate in Paris next year.”
Nederlandse deelnemers in Nové Mesto
Mannen: Milan Vader en David Nordemann.
Vrouwen: Anne Terpstra, Puck Pieterse, Anne Tauber, Lotte Koopmans, Fem van Empel, Romana Carfora, Sophie von Berswordt en Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado.
Among the women, the Netherlands is in very good shape in the Olympic rankings. The Netherlands is number five, with almost thirteen hundred points ahead of ninth place. “I assume that we will finish in the top eight and thus secure two Olympic starting places,” says De Knegt.
The battle for tickets to Paris could become very exciting. Anne Terpstra (fifth) and Anne Tauber (eleventh) participated in Tokyo. They also want to go to next year’s Games. The 32-year-old Terpstra seems to be a certainty as number four in the world cup ranking, but there are some top talents knocking on the door.
Puck Pieterse (20, reigning Dutch cyclo-cross champion) and Fem van Empel (20, reigning world cyclo-cross champion) will participate in Nové Mesto next weekend and have serious Olympic ambitions in mountain biking. “I give Puck and Fem a good chance to really challenge Anne and Anne to Paris,” says De Knegt. “With the women, we might have too many athletes for the number of Olympic places.”
Programma wereldbeker Nové Mesto
- Vrijdag, 18.00 uur: Shorttrack vrouwen
- Vrijdag, 18.45 uur: Shorttrack mannen
- Zondag, 11.30 uur: Crosscountry vrouwen
- Zondag, 14.30 uur: Crosscountry mannen
Crosscountry is het olympische onderdeel bij het mountainbiken.
2023-05-12 03:11:50
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