"On the edge," is Mathieu van der Poel's judgement - who also gives a hint about his form - about the World Championship course.

A good ten months after the disastrous World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, Van der Poel is now preparing for a road World Championship again. He held his press talk in the Novotel - the same chain as in Sydney, last year - Edinburgh Park, near the airport of the Scottish capital. The Dutch camp has moved in there for the next few days to prepare for the World Championship for the elite starting in Edinburgh.

On Friday morning, Van der Poel and his colleagues took some time to recon, where the Dutchman made several sprints up the probable pitvotal Montrose Street. "If you have to sprint up that hill every round, it will be difficult. I really pushed a few times, to keep my body going after the Tour.”

Van der Poel already knew part of the circuit from the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, where he finished second behind Matteo Trentin. "But it seems like even more turns have been added. It's riding from corner to corner, but whether it's too much? Personally, I think it's on the edge, because we also ride that circuit for so long. It's a bit atypical," VDP summarizes.

So, what does the top favorite expect from the course of the race? "It's going to be very exhausting and grueling, a kind of elimination race. It's a fair course, where positioning will be crucial," is Van der Poel's opinion, where he immediately includes some examples. "If you enter into position one hundred, you're half a minute behind. Even if you're unlucky, you'll have work to get back in front. Moving up is very difficult anyway.”

"Be attentive all day long," is Van der Poel's motto for this World Championship. "You can attack anywhere, so the hardest thing will be not to miss the right group. I am among the favorites, but it will be an uncontrolled race in national teams without communication. These two factors make it extra difficult and that makes the World Championship always a bit of a strange race. That will also be the case now.”

The Dutch leader approaches the World Championship with his first complete Tour de France as preparation, so he is also somewhat in the dark about his form. "In that respect, it is also difficult. I do not feel that I am better than before the Tour, but that is difficult to assess. Maybe that will suddenly be the case on Sunday. I did everything I could, so everything went well," says Van der Poel, who did suffer from a cold briefly during the Tour.

"Sometimes you see that Tour riders are very good, but sometimes they completely collapse," analyzes the multiple cyclocross world champion. "When I was sick, I had to ride with the handbrake on. That may have been my luck, that's when I did start thinking about the World Championship."

Van der Poel shares the leadership of the Dutch team with Dylan van Baarle. "For him, it may not be the ideal course, but he is in shape and we've previously ridden together on a similar track in Leuven. Everything flowed naturally without us making any prearranged plans," he notes. Van Baarle, in the 2021 race, concluded at a commendable second place, only surpassed by the unstoppable Julian Alaphilippe.

That Frenchman, along with his team and the Danes and Belgians, are mentioned as the biggest blocks. "But I could name another twenty names. In Belgium they have a luxury problem. They have three good riders, who in my eyes all deserve their selection. They will be professional enough not to get in each other's way. They have the strongest selection of everyone, in all areas.”

Where most riders put the brakes on after the World Championships, Van der Poel stays in Scotland for another week for the Mountain Bike World Championships. "I added the Mountain Bike World Championships, which would actually be my last race of the summer. Then my season ends quite early, but well, that's the calendar.”

Where riders like Filippo Ganna (track) and Tom Pidcock (mountain bike) resolutely chose a different discipline, Van der Poel did not have to hesitate for long. "I haven't even touched that mountain bike now, but I'm not dwelling on that decision Pidcock had to make a choice, which for me was quite a peculiar one. I'm not the one to decide for him, but he would have been one of the favorites in the Road World Championship.”

For Van der Poel, things are a bit different at the moment. "At the moment, the road is more important. On the mountain bike, I mainly hope to have fun, and if I can finish in the top 15, I can get a wildcard for the Olympics. But I'm not really busy with that yet," says the man who is mainly aiming for this coming Sunday.

Van der Poel, however, is in a slightly different situation currently. "Right now, road cycling takes precedence for me. On the mountain bike I hope to have fun, and if I manage a top 15 finish, it might secure me a wildcard entry for the Olympics. But I'm not really thinking about that right now," said the man, who is focusing on Sunday.