Eight-time cyclocross world champion Marianne Vos will make her long-awaited return to the off-road self-discipline after almost two years out, on the World Cup in Besançon on December 29.
The Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU) introduced Vos’ return on Monday and confirmed her efficiency would decide whether or not she’ll experience on the Cyclo-cross World Championships in Liévin, France later within the season.
Her final cyclocross look was on the Benidorm World Cup in January 2023 as she skipped all the subsequent 2023-24 ‘cross season to get better from iliac artery surgical procedure undergone in August of that 12 months. It was the primary full cyclocross marketing campaign that Vos had missed since her injury-plagued 2015 season.
“It’s nice to welcome Marianne [Vos] again to the sphere,’ stated National coach Gerben de Knegt.
“She desires to get a style of this self-discipline once more in Besançon and can partly base her efficiency on this French race on whether or not she may even experience the World Championship later this season.”
It comes off the again of a stellar street marketing campaign in 2024, which noticed Vos return to her greatest and take wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold Race and two phases of the Vuelta. She then capped off the season with one other rainbow jersey on the Gravel World Championships in Leuven.
Vos is considered one of 11 elite Dutch ladies confirmed for the French spherical of the cyclocross World Cup, with world champion and Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Fem van Empel additionally taking the beginning.
Other headline names for the ladies’s race in Besançon embody former rainbow jersey wearers Lucinda Brand and Ceylin Alvarado, with Puck Pieterse skipping this spherical.
In the boys’s race, the most important Dutch title is six-time and defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel, who made a formidable season debut within the cross discipline this previous weekend with victory on the Zonhoven World Cup.
