How good Vos really is remains unclear ahead of her cyclo-cross return: "Expectation is she’ll return at high level"

Marianne Vos will make her long-awaited return to cyclo-cross on Sunday, December 29. The eight-time world champion in cyclo-cross is set to race in Besançon, France. Her first cyclo-cross race in nearly two years! She’s not without ambition, as her ultimate goal this winter is the World Championships.

When asked how well Vos will perform at the start in Besançon, team manager Jan Boven gave a short but clear response: "Good." But will she be good enough to challenge her Visma | Lease a Bike teammate Fem van Empel? "We can't say for sure yet exactly how good she'll be," Boven told IDLProCycling.com during an interview in Gavere, Belgium.

"Marianne has, of course, been out of cyclo-cross for a season and a half. And two years ago, she said goodbye in a bad way because she was basically riding with one and a half legs (due to a pinched femoral artery, ed.). But the expectation, based on what she showed on the road this past year, is that she’ll return at a high level. She’s already been world champion several times, so she’s definitely going to compete."

Vos and Boven had to make choices ahead of the road season

After the race in France, Vos will also compete this winter in the Dutch National Championships in Oisterwijk (January 12), the World Cup in Benidorm (January 19), and the World Cup in Hoogerheide (January 26). Boven emphasized that this cyclo-cross schedule was created collaboratively. "We already had this plan last year."

However, that plan didn’t materialize last winter, even though Vos had recovered from her pinched artery. "Her recovery went much better than we had hoped. We had devised a similar program to this year, but then she contracted COVID-19 during the December training camp. It hit her very hard, so we decided to skip the entire cyclo-cross season."

Marianne Vos last became cyclo-cross world champion in 2022

In her team’s press release, the 37-year-old said she chose to focus on "races that I particularly enjoy." Did she secretly want to do more cyclo-cross races? "This schedule is exactly what she wants," Boven explained. "Maybe she would’ve liked to do more, but you have to make choices. She also realized last year that a winter without cyclo-cross can be very beneficial."

World Championships the ultimate goal for Vos: "That’s up to Gerben to decide"

One race is still missing from her final schedule, though Boven has a logical explanation for this. "Ultimately, I think you have to be selected by the national coach. So that’s up to Gerben (de Knegt, ed.), but the World Championships are definitely the ultimate goal." That, of course, refers to the cyclo-cross World Championships this winter in Liévin, France.

And if Vos is selected, will she be at the start? "I don’t expect that to be a problem for Marianne, so the World Championships will likely be her last cyclo-cross race of the winter," Boven concluded.

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