Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) will not start the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Benidorm on Sunday, with his team confirming the world champion is prioritising an uninterrupted training block ahead of the World Championships in Hulst and beginning of the road season.
Dutch national coach Gerben de Knegt said the team had provisionally entered Van der Poel for the startlist earlier this week, but had remained unsure about his participation.
"Mathieu will decide later this week whether he will actually participate," De Knegt said earlier this week in a press release. "If you are not on the list, later registration is no longer possible. We decided in consultation to solve it this way. The team does not want to force Mathieu's agenda and gives him the space to shape his own programme towards the World Championships."
Van der Poel had flagged the possibility of skipping the Spanish round when releasing his provisional calendar in late November, listing Benidorm as "to be confirmed". The team said at the time that attendance would depend on "the progress of his road-season preparation."
Alpecin-Premier Tech said this marks a change from previous winters, when Van der Poel raced regularly through January.
The absence suggests Van der Poel is not targeting the World Cup overall standings this season. His father Adrie, a former world champion himself, indicated earlier this month that reducing the cyclo-cross workload has become a long-term consideration.
"Mathieu is quite willing to skip a winter," Adrie van der Poel said in an interview with Sporza, suggesting that a year away from cyclo-cross could benefit his son's road career longevity.
Van der Poel is not alone in scaling back. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) limited his season to a concentrated block of races over Christmas before his crash at Exact Cross Mol wiped out his season.
The reduced schedules of the sport's biggest names have raised questions about the depth of competition at both the World Cup and the Worlds, where Van der Poel will defend his title on 1 February.
Van der Poel's next cyclo-cross race is expected to be Maasmechelen on 24 January.
Read our full Benidorm preview for the details on the course, favourites and stakes.
Cover image credit: Zubiko/SWpix.com
