Marianne Vos not ruling out victory at Cyclo-cross World Championships

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) is aiming for a podium, but not ruling out a victory at the upcoming UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships set to take place from January 30-31 in Ostend, Belgium. In an interview from her road team camp in Alicante, Spain, the former seven-time cyclo-cross world champion said that she will try to get the best result possible.

"I’ll be trying to do as good as possible. I’ve had a very short season, and then it’s more intense. It’s difficult to peak a that right moment but I’m satisfied by how things are going," Vos said in a team-issued video on Friday. "I feel good and my level is growing.

"The level is very, very high and I knew that when I came in that a podium would be [possible]… it’s a good achievement … but for Worlds, you never know and I want to be as good as I can be on that day."

Vos is racing a truncated cyclo-cross season that began in Essen on December 22, and went on to race in Herentals on December 23, and in Dendermonde on December 27, where she was still wearing the orange colours of CCC-Liv.  

She then made her debut in the Jumbo-Visma kit in January at the World Cup in Hulst and secured her first podium of the season at Zilvermeercross. It was a performance that she said gave her confidence going into the World Championships.

She is currently united with her Jumbo-Visma road teammates at a training camp in Alicante, but said the team fully supports her ambitions to compete in both cyclo-cross and road racing.

"It’s an interesting combination, cyclo-cross and road, and you have to balance it well. The team gives me the perfect opportunity to do so. I’m very happy with the support of the team and I don’t think that there are many road teams that would implement this. It’s not easy to get this organisation done right, to have all the materials and the support at the races, so it is unique," Vos said.

"It’s not an easy combination, especially that the road season [in 2020] went on for quite a long time. I did stop a little earlier and then had a build up, and with coach and the team, we made a programme that, not only in the cyclo-cross season where I want to do well in the races, is a priority, but also the priority to get as fit as possible out of the cyclo-cross season in a build-up toward the road season. 

"I think we have managed because I feel good and fit and looking forward to those cyclo-cross races, and then continue into the road season."

Vos said she has high ambitions and will be her best to secure a result at the Cyclo-cross Worlds before turning her attention to the road season. This year, she will target Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Olympic Games and the Road World Championships in Flanders.

"It’s going to be interesting season," Vos said. "I look at it goal by goal and don’t look too far ahead, but of course, there is a big goal with the Olympics and then later on at [Road] World Championships. First, I’m looking forward to [Cyclo-cross] Worlds. We have some beautiful Spring Classics coming up, so those are the first big goals of the road season."