Jumping away from the road and chasing that elusive UCI Mountain Bike World Championships with just one race for the season under the belt was never going to be an easy mission, but Mathieu van der Poel had delivered every reason to hope when he rocketed straight to the World Cup Cross-Country Olympic podium in Les Gets.
Just the week before the rainbow race the Dutch Alpecin-Premier Tech had moved seamlessly through the field and taken part in a two-way battle for the victory. It wasn't just the form that had taken him to first in the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées that was clearly evident, but also a degree of comfort on the challenging terrain that boded well for the all important appointment at Val di Sole just a week away.
He was, however, even further back on the start grid for the World Championships race though he wasn't the only road regular facing that awkward starting position, with Tom Pidcock facing a similar challenge. The difference was that the rider from Great Britain quickly chipped away, steadily moving up, but Van der Poel seemed to hit a wall.
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There was progress as he moved into the top 20 through the opening stages of the seven-lap race but then Van der Poel headed in the other direction, dropping out of the top 20 to cross the final finish line in 30th place, 4:40 back from a victorious Pidcock.
"I just wasn’t good enough. I don’t really know the reason. It was more or less the same as last year: a good feeling in Les Gets, but bad at the Worlds," said Van der Poel in a media release from the event.
Last year it was sixth at Les Gets and then 29th at World Championships. The rider has a hefty collection of rainbow jersey's from other disciplines – cyclo-cross, gravel and road – the pursuit of this one is proving difficult, particularly with the time to race the mountain bike hard to come by.
"Those bad results are indeed piling up a bit now," Van der Poel told reporters after the event according to a report on NU.nl. "But last year I could feel it coming that I wasn't 100 percent at the World Championships. I had expected a lot more from it this time. But I can't change anything about it now. Unfortunately, days like this happen too."
Now, though, he'll be hoping they don't come again for the rainbow jersey battles ahead, either as he continues the pursuit of a mountain bike title in the years to come or the one he will be facing far sooner, at the end of September in Montreal on the road.
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