Alpecin-Deceuninck confirms: no Dutch National Cycling Championships for Mathieu van der Poel, who you can find on a gravel bike

Alpecin-Deceuninck will be sending a team of twenty (!) riders to the National Cycling Championships and, with Tibor Del Grosso, Lars Boven, Ryan Kamp, Guus van den Eijnden, and Senna Remijn, who was announced on Friday as joining the WorldTour team, also has five men lined up for the Dutch championships in Ede.

Van der Poel will not be there, just as he was not last year in Arnhem, as he will not be competing on the flat circuit in Ede. He has already traveled from Spain to Belgium, where he completed a training session on his gravel bike on Friday and shared a photo on Instagram.

Oscar Riesebeek will also not be competing in the Dutch championships after his suspension for two yellow cards in the Baloise Belgium Tour. This is particularly painful for him, as he is from Ede himself.

Van der Poel is certainly not the only rider who will not be there on Saturday. Unlike in Belgium, the Dutch National Championship is not mandatory for Dutch riders. This means that Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), Wout Poels (XDS-Astana), Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL), Steven Kruijswijk (Visma | Lease a Bike), Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Mick van Dijke (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step) will not be present.

This is partly due to the flat and short course in Ede, where climbers have little to no chance of making an impact. Additionally, some riders have just finished the Giro or will soon participate in the Tour, so it is advisable to avoid any risks at this point.