Former world champions Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel headline the Dutch team selection set to race at the final UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup held in Hoogerheide on January 28.
Vos and Van der Poel are preparing for the upcoming UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships held in Valkenburg on February 3 and 4, and will be aiming to return the rainbow bands to the Dutch after both finished second in the 2017 event in Bieles, Luxembourg.
Van der Poel has enjoyed a superb 2017-2018 thus far, winning all but two of the World Cup rounds and already laying claim to the overall title. At the weekend, he dominated the Nommay World Cup, beating World Championship rival Wout van Aert by 33 seconds. He also sits second in the Superprestige rankings, one point behind Van Aert, after winning four of the six races so far. Van der Poel will be joined by his brother David, Lars van der Haar and Corné van Kessel in the eight-rider team.
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Vos has had a more challenging season, one which was marred by illness at the turn of the New Year. The 30-year-old has completed barely a handful of races and struggled at the GP Sven Nys on January 1. Upon advice from doctors, Vos decided to miss the national championships in an attempt to recover and has headed to Mallorca for a training camp before racing at the Hoogerheide World Cup this weekend.
Lucinda Brand, Maud Kaptheijns and 2017 under-23 champion Annemarie Worst have been named alongside Vos in the women’s team, but 2016 world champion Thalita de Jong has missed out on a spot.
De Jong has been battling with a knee injury that ruled her out of the defence of her title at last year’s World Championships. She returned to racing at the GP Sven Nys and scored two wins this weekend at the Kasteelcross and the Grand Prix Mobel Alvisse. She still has a shot at the World Championship team becuase spots will open up after the under-23 women are separated out from the elite women's team for that event.
Dutch squad for UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup Hoogerheide
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