There are victories that seem to slip away almost by a detail, titles that continue to elude even a champion accustomed to turning almost everything he touches into gold. In Mathieu van der Poel's palmares there is still one box to fill, one of those that the Dutch superstar has never truly stopped desiring: the mountain bike world championship title.

After dominating on the roads, conquering great classics and monuments and writing legendary pages in cyclocross as well, Van der Poel is ready to return to his roots. His next challenge will indeed be on a mountain bike, with a precise objective on the horizon: the Val di Sole World Championship, scheduled for August 26-30.

Before that, however, there will be an important test. On Sunday the Dutch champion will line up for the Les Gets World Cup race in France, where he will put his legs to the test and especially gauge his sensations after months spent away from the world of MTB.

Les Gets will be Van der Poel's first mountain bike race of the season. An appointment that goes beyond the simple result: it will serve above all to understand where his condition stands ahead of the world championship event.

The World Cup organizers have indeed announced the presence of the Dutchman in the cross country race. And the precedent gives reason for hope: precisely at Les Gets, in 2019, Van der Poel managed to secure a prestigious victory.

This time, however, the context is completely different. The Dutchman arrives after a long road season and will have to quickly rediscover those mechanisms that make mountain bike a completely different discipline, made up of continuous attacks, technical passages, descents and sudden changes of pace. For this reason, more than the final result, the sensations will be important.

Van der Poel has already proven he can be a champion in different disciplines. Cyclocross was his first great territory of conquest, while on the road he has built an extraordinary career, not forgetting the world gold he won in gravel in 2024. But mountain bike still represents a sort of unfinished business.

The Olympic dream, in particular, has transformed over the years into a challenge difficult to complete. In Tokyo, in 2021, came one of the most painful disappointments: a crash compromised his race and from that moment MTB inevitably moved a bit further from his plans.

In 2023 Van der Poel returned to compete at the World Championship, but failed to even finish the race. The following year he tried again to face the best, also participating in a World Cup race, which he finished in sixth place, but at the World Championship he finished only 29th. Numbers that explain how complicated it is to return to a high level in the discipline after having practiced it intermittently. Now, however, the project is different. Van der Poel wants to try again and the road to the World Championship passes right through Les Gets.

The French race will be a sort of proving ground. After so long without competing in MTB, the Dutchman will be able to verify his condition and understand how much time he will need to regain rhythm and confidence with the bike. Then there will be Val di Sole, an appointment that Van der Poel should face with decidedly more important ambitions.

The World Championship is the real objective. And winning gold would mean adding to his extraordinary palmares a title that, for various reasons, has always eluded him.

The choice to temporarily return to mountain bike tells once again the mentality of Van der Poel. Despite an already extremely demanding road season, the Dutch superstar has decided to challenge himself again in a discipline in which he no longer has the continuity of a few years ago. Sunday at Les Gets will therefore not be just a World Cup race, but could be the first chapter in the pursuit of the world title.

Van der Poel knows the road to success well and now he will have to rediscover the one that leads through the trails, rocks and climbs of mountain bike. The grand dream is Val di Sole and the first test is already just around the corner.