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Van Der Poel Olympic MTB Dream Seems Over

At the end of cyclocross season we told you that former Cyclocross World Champion Mathieu van der Poel was making a run at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the gold medal in the mountain bike race at the Summer Games. After a strong start on Cyprus, it seems unlikely van der Poel will be able to accomplish his goal.

Van der Poel recently told Belgian’s Nieuwsbald that the task proved more difficult than he originally thought.

“I knew it would be difficult, but so difficult? I tried and lost. I’m not sorry. It was a pleasant introduction to an underestimated discipline of cycling. An experience that I bring for the future, because I will not give up mountain biking,” said the Dutchman.

In the two World Cup MTB events van der Poel has raced, in Cairns, Australia, and Albstadt, Germany, he placed 32nd and 34th respectively. A top 12 in Albstadt would have been an Olympic-qualifying ride for van der Poel.

“I now only have the [World Cup] round in France in LaBresse to meet the qualifying standard, but I’m realistic enough to realize that a top six is impossible,” van der Poel told Belgian press, before adding that “Rio is indeed no longer feasible.”

Still, the cyclocross star was pragmatic in his assment of the effort. “The efforts that I did, certainly are not lost and find me in good stead as preparation for the winter cross,” van der Poel said.

Cumming Crushes on the Road

Kathryn Cumming, riding for Cyclocross Magazine, flew the flag and lead the field sprint at the Wilmington Grand Prix earlier this month.

Like Hannah Saville, who recently put her cyclocross skills to work racing and winning on her mountain bike, Cumming, primarily a ‘cross racer, used the spring road race to stay sharp for the coming cyclocross season.

Cumming towed the field around the course, chasing the top three podium posts who were up the road in a break that would stick. Despite the work trying to bring the leaders back, Cumming held off all the other chasers and take the field sprint for fourth.

Nice job, Kathryn!

Van der Haar, the Romantic

While many dream of the life of a pro rider, it can have its inconveniences. Like trying to schedule a weekend away with your significant other, who also happens to be a professional cyclist.

Lars van der Haar recently took to Twitter to lament his difficulty in this very situation: