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Cycling Weekly
Cycling Weekly
Sport
James Shrubsall

Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock to go head to head in mountain biking for first time since 2023 in Worlds warm-up

Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel shake hands at the 2026 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

The two pre-eminent mountain bike racers in men's road racing are about to be reunited on fat tyres for the first time since 2023.

Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are set to ride the Whoop UCI MTB World Cup round at Les Gets in France this weekend, with the XCO taking place on Sunday. It will be the first time the pair have raced mountain bikes against each other since the test event for the Paris Olympic Games in September 2023. On that occasion neither rider placed highly, with Van der Poel 28th and Pidcock 36th.

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