Will we still see Mathieu van der Poel in his new rainbow jersey this year? The Dutchman provides an answer

As if they knew: unlike the European Championship won by Fabio Jakobsen in Munich in 2022, the other Dutch cyclists will stay one more night in Glasgow. "We haven't jinxed it by already ordering everything in advance," laughed national coach Koos Moerenhout. "We've planned for everyone to stay, making a deliberate choice not to leave immediately. It's an extraordinarily special moment, a truly beautiful experience."

The man of the hour will, of course, be present at that party, even though he must still compete in the Mountain Bike World Championships next week. "I'm making an exception," Van der Poel told IDLProCycling.com with a big smile at his press conference. "I have a few days to recover, so I'm going to enjoy this moment as well." As he heads to the World Championships in Glenntress Forest, his primary goal is to secure a spot in the top ten or fifteen, a feat that could earn him a ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Now that he has secured the rainbow jersey on the road, the question naturally arises: where will we see him in his seven colors for the first time? "Phew, I don't really know that yet. Maybe in cyclocross?" wondered the reigning cyclocross world champion. "We have made plans until Saturday, which is normally my last race of the season. Maybe I'll show off the jersey somewhere, but I'm not thinking about that yet," Van der Poel understandably stated.