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Marianne Vos to return at Besancon World Cup event ahead of World Championship
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Published 23/12/2024 at 16:56 GMT
Marianne Vos is an eight-time world champion in cyclo-cross, as well as an accomplished rider on gravel and road surfaces. After missing the last year of cyclo-cross competition, the Royal Dutch Cycling Union has announced the 37-year-old will compete at the World Cup event in Besancon in order to decide whether to compete in the World Championship next month.
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Marianne Vos will return to cyclo-cross on December 29 at the World Cup, as the eight-time world champion prepares to compete off-road once more.
The Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU) confirmed that the 37-year-old rider would be back at the Besancon event before the end of the year.
The KNWU added that her performance at the event would inform her decision on whether to compete at the cyclo-cross World Championship in Lievin, France, which begins on January 31.
She last competed in the discipline at the Benidorm World Cup in January last year, before taking time away from the sport after iliac surgery.
"It's great to welcome Marianne back to the field," announced national coach Gerben de Knegt.Â
"She wants to get a taste of this discipline again in Besancon and will partly base her performance in this French race on whether she will also ride the World Championship later this season."
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Vos enjoyed another successful road campaign over the past year. In 2024, she won the Amstel Gold Race, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and two stages of the Vuelta a Espana. She also took the rainbow jersey at the Gravel World Championships in Leuven, Belgium.
Netherlands will take 11 women to the French round of the World Cup, including current world champion Fem van Empel, a Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate of Vos.
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There are other big names in the mix to compete in Besancon, including Lucinda Brand and Ceylin Alvarado, though Puck Pieterse has elected to sit out the round.
While Tom Pidcock announced he would not be taking part this season, there is a place for the current world champion, Mathieu van der Poel.
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