🎥 First footage is in: Mathieu van der Poel back on the mountain bike in Nove Mesto

Van der Poel returns to the mountain bike this weekend in Nove Mesto, marking his first MTB appearance since the Olympic test event in Paris last year. The Dutchman has his sights set on the mountain bike World Championships in the Swiss Alps this September but will also race the Tour de France in between. That makes Sunday’s race in Nove Mesto his only MTB outing before the Tour.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck leader will line up solely for the cross-country race in the Czech Republic, which takes place on Sunday morning. Due to his UCI points in road cycling, Van der Poel will start from the fifth row. A special rule allows riders ranked in the top ten of another discipline to move up a few rows, giving him a better position on the grid.

On Thursday, he already took to the course for a recon lap, captured by cyclingmedia_agency. The footage shows a focused Van der Poel in action on his Canyon.