Mathieu van der Poel will return to racing on Saturday, testing his Tour de France form and his gravel skills at the Dwars door het Hegeland one-day race in Belgium, which features 41 kilometres of off-road riding.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was last seen in race action when he won Paris-Roubaix in mid-April. He then took a break and has been training at altitude for the Tour de France and subsequent World Championships.
Rather than take part in the eight-day Tour de Suisse, the Dutch star has opted for a week of racing in Belgium, starting with the Dwars door het Hegeland then continuing with the Tour of Belgium (June 14th-18th). There are unconfirmed reports he may also race his country’s national championships on June 25th prior to heading to the Tour de France.
“It’s better to go all out and try to win in Belgium than be in the gruppetto in Switzerland,” Van der Poel argued. “And when you factor in the time trials, I think Suisse and Belgium is almost the same amount of racing days.”
Despite his two-month break from racing, Van der Poel is considered to be the stand-out favourite for Dwars door het Hegeland, which he won back in 2017.
Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X), Yves Lampaert (Soudal-QuickStep) and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech) are also taking part, along with 2021 winner Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X).
The 177 kilometre Dwars door het Hegeland runs between Aarschot and the citadel at Diest and features both 14 short climbs as well as 13 off-road segments totalling 41 kilometres of gravel.
“Mathieu will be the key reference point”, former cyclo-cross champion-turned TV cycling commentator Sven Nys told sporza.be.
"It’s not clear how he will feel after such a long time without racing, but he’s a former winner and he’ll be aiming for a second.”
“These races are close to home, so that will be a factor, and a race like this suits his attacking style.”
"There are a lot of short climbs in the final circuit, barely a metre of flat," Nys added. "The Prinsenbos, the tough gravel climb in Zichem and then the final climb to the citadel in Diest will make for great TV.”
Warm, dry weather is forecast , making dust clouds likely and as Nys points out, seve limiting visibility.
"If you fall behind due to a breakdown, you have to make your way forward through the clouds of dust. That is not easy. When it rains, you feel like your bike has a better grip on the route.”
"The drier it is, the more spectacular the course will be."
