Jolanda Neff will make a cyclocross comeback after a three-year hiatus from racing on the top-tier on the UCI World-Cup in Namur on Sunday, becoming a member of a star-studded elite ladies’s and elite males’s fields that additionally mark the return of Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse.
The Swiss multi-discipline racer mentioned she missed the ‘tradition’, ‘expertise’ and ‘ambiance’ of cyclocross racing, significantly in Belgium, and he or she even has an eye fixed on the World Championships in Hulst, Netherlands, in January.
“It is in your tradition [Belgium]. I do not discover this anyplace else: the expertise, the ambiance, the cheering from the gang. The spectators are in a vacation temper; it is all the time enjoyable to do. I positively come for the distinctive ambiance, however the beer is for my dad,” Neff mentioned.
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She final competed in a UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Iowa Metropolis, Fayetteville and Waterloo, USA in 2021. She has since competed within the North Carolina Grand Prix in 2022 and this November, the place she received back-to-back occasions.
Neff has dedicated to racing eight occasions from the Namur World Cup to Gullegem Superprestige throughout Belgium between December 14 and January 3, in keeping with Wielerflits.
“Eight races appear to be loads, however since I am in Belgium, I’d as nicely compete. I do know some programs, like Baal, the place I took my solely Belgian victory in 2019, however I’ve to rediscover others. After Gullegem, I am going to return to Switzerland for the nationwide championships. The World Championships in Hulst stay an possibility,” she mentioned.
Neff, a former cross-country mountain bike Olympic and World Champion, mentioned she is returning to cyclocross’ highest stage of races after a three-year absence as a result of her coach believes she may gain advantage from a brand new method to her upcoming season.
“After we have been planning for 2026 after final season, my coach thought we wanted a brand new problem. Attempt one thing totally different, not the standard build-up in direction of summer season. And because the first World Cup mountain bike spherical is not scheduled till Could, a return to ‘cross appeared like the perfect problem,” she mentioned.
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