Mathieu van der Poel targeting 2025 mountain bike world title and Olympic glory at LA 2028
The versatile Dutch rider has made plain his hopes of taking his first mountain bike world title and revealed the event he intends to target at his final Olympic outing at Los Angeles 2028.
Cycling Mountain Bike
Mathieu van der Poel is a six-time cyclo-cross world champion, a gravel world champion, a road race world champion, and a multiple Grand Tour stage winner, with numerous classic victories to his name. However, there’s still one thing missing from his otherwise glowing cycling resume: a mountain bike world title.
Claiming that elusive victory is the prevailing goal of the 29-year-old heading into 2025.
“If I could choose, I would like to become world champion mountain biker this year," van der Poel said in an interview with Sporza. "I haven't succeeded yet and it keeps playing in the back of my mind."
Until now, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has never managed higher than third place at a UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. He did not finish (DNF) on his last trip to the event in 2023.
Van der Poel's off-road ambitions don't just stop there. The men's mountain bike Olympic title at LA28 is also on the Dutchman's mind.
"I have one more chance for that,” van der Poel continued to Sporza. “LA will almost certainly be the last Games I participate in. It would be great to try to finish in LA on the mountain bike."
Van der Poel last competed in the Olympic men’s mountain bike race on his debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, but crashed out of the race after appearing to misjudge a landing.
At Paris 2024, he opted to skip the event to focus solely on the Olympic road race where he ultimately finished in 12th place while Remco Evenepoel took the gold.
The men's Elite cross-country Olympic race at the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships will take place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on Sunday 14 September.