Mathieu van der Poel, the reigning road world champion, will defend his title in Zürich on September 29, but will not compete in the Vuelta a España as preparation.
Van der Poel won last year’s world title in Glasgow in August, fresh off the Tour de France, but he won’t have a Grand Tour in his legs when he travels to Switzerland in late September.
In preparation for the 2021 and 2022 World Championships, he competed in a number of smaller one-day races in Belgium, including the Gooikse Pijl and GP de Wallonie, and it appears that he will take a similar approach this time around when he returns to racing after the Paris Olympic Games.
His Alpecin-Deceuninck team will compete in the Vuelta a España, with 2023 points classification winner Kaden Groves headlining the eight-man roster.
The Australian sprinter won three stages last year, including the final stage in Madrid. He is still looking for his first win of the season after four podium finishes at the Giro d’Italia.
The Vuelta may be his final Grand Tour with the team before a possible move to a new Astana team next season.
Quinten Hermans, who won a stage at Itzulia Basque Country this year and finished third on the hilly stage 12 of the Giro in Fano, is the team’s best chance for stage victory at the Vuelta.
Alpecin-Deceuninck has a history of success at the race, winning several stages in each of the past three editions. In 2021, Jasper Philipsen won two sprints.
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