From Sepp Kuss and Kobe Bryant to van der Poel’s golf and MTB buddy: The role models driving his MTB World Championship ambition

First, let's take a quick look at the women who will complete their race on Saturday afternoon. Puck Pieterse will start as the defending champion, but this time the Dutch rider will not be the top favorite. She is not in the same top form as Jenny Rissveds from Sweden, who won both the European Championships in Portugal and the last World Cup in Les Gets by more than a minute.

In Tuesday's Short Race, she finished second behind Swiss specialist Alessandra Keller, who will also have home advantage again on Sunday in Crans-Montana. New Zealand's Samara Maxwell, who has been performing strongly in cross-country races all season, also looks like a strong medal contender.

In the men's race, it has been a close contest all season. In the words of national coach Gerben De Knegt, “There are really a lot of riders who have a chance. You can easily name 10 who could win or be on the podium, and I definitely include Mathieu among them.” Who exactly are those nine, besides Van der Poel?

First in our list is Christopher Blevins, a 27-year-old American from Durango, Colorado, who usually rides for Specialized. This is fertile cycling ground, as Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Visma | Lease a Bike rider Sepp Kuss were also born there. Blevins, who is aiming for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, trained with Kuss during his youth.

This season, Blevins made his definitive breakthrough, with World Cup victories in Brazil (twice), Nove Mesto, Leogang, and Val di Sole. On Tuesday, he also finished second in the World Championship Short Race. The American owes this upward trend in part to... mindfulness. “It allows you to keep returning to the present moment, and you can put the broader vision of what racing is for into context—as a way to become a better person, and use sport to support that process.”

Blevins, who lives in his own meditation center, also writes rap lyrics and has released his own music. He draws his sporting inspiration from the late basketball player Kobe Bryant. “I think a lot of people can relate to what he expressed and what he brought to the court. He could be relentless and use different emotions at the same time, whether it was anger or love. That mamba mentality has helped me win races.”

The winner of Tuesday's Short Race was Victor Koretzky, for the second World Championship in a row, who, after a challenging year, surprisingly managed to catch up with his Specialized teammate, Blevins, in the final lap. “Being on the podium with Chris is something special. He was the man to beat this year, and it wasn't easy,” said the Frenchman after the race.

“In the last lap, it was difficult to catch him. He opened up a huge gap, but I managed to close it... I'm super happy,” said the Olympic silver medalist from Paris, who immediately indicated after the Short Race that he also has his sights set on Sunday's Cross Country race.

Koretzky's disappointing season was due to a back injury he sustained in a crash in the run-up to the World Cup in Leogang, but he seems to be back in form just in time. After his successes in the Short Race, is it now time for the man who finished second at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships last year to catch a big fish in the Cross Country?

Anyone who watched the race in Les Gets, where Van der Poel finished sixth, will undoubtedly remember the name Luca Martin. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who leads his country alongside Koretzky and Mathis Azzaro, won the XCO race in his home country, immediately putting himself in the spotlight for the World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

Last season, Martin won the World Championships in the U23 category, and he is effortlessly continuing that trend in the second half of this season among the pros. In Andorra, he already made his mark with a win in the Short Race and a second place behind Tom Pidcock in the Cross Country, after which illness kept him out of the European Championships.

He made his comeback with a victory in Les Gets, but COVID played tricks on Martin in the run-up to the World Championships, and he had to skip Tuesday's Short Race. “Now the focus is on taking care of my body, recovering, and hoping that the virus is gone in time to be ready for Sunday's XCO. It's tough, especially after the huge contrast between Les Gets and the World Championships, where I had hoped to reach my peak form this week,” said the Frenchman.

Like Martin, the talented Scotsman Charlie Aldridge also rides for Cannondale, and the coronavirus was also circulating there, which kept Aldridge out of Tuesday's Short Race. It was in that discipline that the Briton recorded his first World Cup victory in Les Gets.

However, Aldridge took a nasty crash two days later in the Cross Country race in France, so he is not having an ideal run-up to this World Championship. He, too, was in top form, as evidenced by a third place in Andorra and a second place behind compatriot Tom Pidcock at the European Championships in Portugal.

Nevertheless, we expect him to be there as usual, as he has been riding his mountain bike daily in Switzerland, despite withdrawing from the Short Race.

This weekend, the eyes of the Swiss will be focused primarily on Nino Schurter, who will soon be retiring. The ten-time world champion will ride his last World Championships in Crans Montana before finally retiring in Lenzerheide in a few weeks. Mathieu van der Poel called him ‘GOAT’ when he announced his retirement.

National coach Gerben de Knegt does not expect Schurter to be at the front in Crans Montana. “I don't see him playing a role anymore, but his reliability has always made him so good. Technically, physically, and so on: he's a 9 in all areas, which makes him a 10. He's not a spectacular rider, but winning the world championship 10 times is not easy.”

Among those we can expect to see is Schurter's contemporary, Mathias Flückiger. The silver medalist at the Tokyo Games recently finished second in Leogang, third in Les Gets, and has home advantage. He can capitalize on that on Sunday, as well as this summer. Flückiger has been “playing” on the circuit in Crans Montana for months, where he now knows every stone and tree root. In addition to Schurter and Flückiger, Fabio Püntener, Lars Forster, and Filippo Colombo will also be competing, all of whom have the potential to excel on a good day.

If anyone can explain Mathieu van der Poel's mountain biking skills, it's his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Sam Gaze. Van der Poel spends a lot of time with Gaze around the races he rides on his mountain bike: last Wednesday, the two were spotted on the golf course in Crans Montana, where the World Championships are being held.

Gaze is also a star rider himself, as evidenced by his Short Race world title and silver medal in the Cross Country at the 2023 World Championships. However, this season has not gone smoothly for the Kiwi, who fell in Nove Mesto and then had to deal with illness. Nevertheless, he seems to be in top form just in time, as evidenced by his riding in the Short Race.

The rider in the beautiful All Blacks outfit finished fifth there, after spending some time with Puck Pieterse between the World Cup in Les Gets and the World Championships. Cool images of the two, with lots of fun, appeared on Instagram. The ideal way for Gaze to fully recharge for a spectacular performance on Sunday?

The defending champion for Sunday is Alan Hatherly from South Africa. After his victory at the World Championships, he switched to road racing, where he competes for Jayco AlUla. This year, he alternated between races such as the AlUla Tour (sixth) and Arctic Race of Norway (eleventh) and the MTB World Cups.

After his transfer to Jayco AlUla, Hatherly was unable to match the results he achieved in 2024, but in Les Gets, he made his mark again with two fourth places. The man who also finished third at the Paris Olympics is now back in form.

In Tuesday's Short Race, however, Koretzky did not get further than 32nd place, in what he himself has described as a ‘challenging season’ so far. Hatherly represents the African continent, while Martin Vidaurre (Chile) represents South America, and Gaze (Oceania) and Blezins (North America) represent their respective continents.

Italian veteran Luca Braidot also deserves a place on this list, as does his younger compatriot Simone Avondetto. Braidot, like his contemporary Mathias Flückiger, managed to reach peak form just in time, as evidenced by his double podium finish—Short Race and Cross Country—in Les Gets.

Braidot has often come close at various world championships in recent years, but has yet to win the top prize. The Italian, who originates from Gorizia on the border with Slovenia, can count on a sizeable home crowd in Crans Montana, which is not far from the Italian border.

Avondetto, who surprised everyone by becoming European champion last year, finished fifth in Les Gets and also seems to be a man to watch on Sunday. Other Europeans who could go far are former Bahrain rider Ondrej Cink and German Luca Schwarzbauer. The latter recently posted a five-minute value of 591 (!) watts on Instagram.

We conclude this list, in which we wanted to include riders other than Van der Poel, with Simon Andreassen from Denmark. The 27-year-old Dane already became world champion in mountain biking last year, but in the marathon. He skipped that race, which was won this year in Switzerland by American Keegan Swenson.

Andreassen, a two-time junior world champion, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks in the final races before this World Championship. He won bronze at the European Championships, finished eighth in Les Gets, and added a respectable fourth place at the World Championship Short Race in Zermatt last Tuesday.

To come back and conclude with the women's race: Andreassen is the partner of Jenny Rissveds, the Swedish favorite in the women's race. Will we see double celebrations at the Andreassen-Rissveds household this weekend?