Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s rider has revealed that he will be at the start of the event held in Oostende, Belgium, on Sunday 31st.
The 35-year-old Czech rider has added the World Cyclo-cross Championships to his early season plans, following changes to his program caused by the evolving Covid-19 pandemic. And with this year’s edition being held in Belgium, it was an easy choice for the three-time winner (2010, 2011, 2014).
Speaking of the change in program, Zdenek said: “It was not expected that I would ride the Worlds this year, but things have evolved. As we know this discipline is my passion, so after watching some races on television I felt in my stomach that I really wanted to race. It would not have normally fit in to my schedule, but things have changed and having done a lot of training my condition feels good. I weighed up my options and discussed it with Patrick Lefevere, as well the team’s management, and I am very grateful to have received the team’s support. So, from there I started the process of preparing the materials and decided that I will go for it.”
“The World Championships will always have a special feeling, as it is where I have started my career and I have my special victories at the event. I am not going there with the expectation of winning this time, but I will go flat out to push myself and try to get the best result possible. There are two outstanding favourites in Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, but then after that it is a quite open race for third place. The parcours will be nice and not too technical and will suit powerful riders. This is good for me, and as my last block of training went really well, it means that I can try to push hard”, added Zdenek.
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
