Not only Mathieu van der Poel, but also Puck Pieterse will make her return to cyclocross this Sunday at the World Cup in Namur. Just like the men's cyclocross world champion, Pieterse is an all-rounder who effortlessly balances road racing, mountain biking, and cyclocross. In cyclocross, she still has to clinch the world title at the elite level, and this winter she has made that her biggest (and possibly only?) goal.
How Pieterse’s cyclocross winter will unfold remains a mystery so far. Pieterse herself had already announced—ironically via a Strava post—that she would “start racing in the mud no earlier than Namur,” but beyond that, we knew little. So we called Pieterse after her training camp in Spain, where she had been riding alongside the cyclocross teams of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Crelan-Corendon, Seven Racing, and Fenix-Deceuninck until Thursday.
“We tried to make the best of it,” Pieterse laughs when confronted with videos showing her pulling wheelies and other stunts with Tibor Del Grosso. “It was nice to be out with all the guys and girls. We were able to train well, and we had good weather all week. That’s the most important thing. You really don’t want to ride somewhere if it’s cold the whole week.”
Your last race was the mountain bike World Championships in mid-October. How are you feeling now?
“Phew. I think it’s going well. The plan was to use the training camp as a way to feel things out and decide whether or not to make my return in Namur. And now I can confirm that I’ll start, so it should be good.”
It was noticeable that we hadn’t heard much about your program yet. Is everything really decided so 'last minute'?
“We are working on it, looking at where I want to race. I don’t really have a classification to target this winter, which gives me more freedom in the races I pick. But because of that, I can’t yet say exactly which races I will or won’t do. Of course, you want to be at nice races during the Christmas period and ultimately race the World Championships.”
Pieterse has previously won in Hulst – photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
How many cyclocross races do you aim to start?
“I think about the same as last year. The concept behind my cyclocross campaign is definitely the same. I’m starting at the same time as well. The main thing is that my biggest goal is once again the World Championships. I really want to be at the very top there.”
Hulst suits you, as you have proven in the past. Is it your biggest chance at the world title so far?
“I wouldn’t dare say that. Tábor two years ago was also a course that suited me well, as was Liévin. Over the past few years, I have actually been lucky with the courses. I have an especially good history with Hulst. Of course, it’s a bit of a wait-and-see how the course adjustments will turn out, but Hulst is a course I really like in terms of technique and those banks up and down. It’s quite different from, for example, Ostend, where I’m less fond of racing.”
Was it a deliberate choice that you, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tibor Del Grosso all start in Namur, or just a simple consequence of your stage plans?
“For me, it was partly because I consider Namur one of the most beautiful courses and races of the entire winter. I really wanted to start there, but it’s also a bit of a coincidence how things lined up. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s also the case for Tibor and Mathieu. It’s also nice to have done something before the really busy Christmas period begins.”
Give us a prediction of where you’ll finish this Sunday.
“In the last three years that I have raced cyclocross, I have been pretty consistent in contending for victory and the podium. I expect to show that again this year. Above all, I hope to enjoy myself and get confirmation that my form is right. It’s much harder to race when you have to drag yourself into the momentum after every corner. I hope the freshness is there and that I can ride good technical sections on the sloped terrain. There will be many spectators, which only makes it more fun. If I weren’t enjoying it, I’d skip it and just focus on my spring season.”
You’ve already won classics on the road and became world champion on the mountain bike. How important is cyclocross to you?
“I think cyclocross is a very good preparation for the summer season. Conversely, the summer season is also good preparation for the winter season. Once I’m into cyclocross, I treat it as my most serious discipline. I don’t think ‘oh, it doesn’t really matter, I do two other things as well’. Especially when you race, it quickly becomes the main focus in your mind again. I have that same mindset in the spring on the road and then with mountain bike races afterwards.”
Pieterse after her triumph at the Flèche Wallonne – photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
How do you manage all those transitions?
“That goes fairly smoothly. The mountain bike requires a different technique. You have to be a bit more cautious on the cyclocross bike. If you throw a corner on a mountain bike, it’s more forgiving. If your technique is off in cyclocross, you quickly end up on the ground.”
And regarding your schedule? I see few rest periods if I look at your 2025 calendar.
“It’s well divided into several blocks. First the spring, then a big part of mountain biking. Interrupted by the Tour de France Femmes, then back to mountain biking and cyclocross. In terms of race days, I ride the same amount as a full-time road racer. We compared that once with some road girls. They race more stage races, with a Giro and Vuelta, so it works out about the same. Rest assured, the team thinks carefully about putting that puzzle together.”
Finally: how do you look back on last cycling season, in which you pushed your limits again with, among other things, that victory at the Flèche Wallonne?
“I think it was a very good year, with my best spring season so far. Of course, it was only the first time I completed a whole spring season. The first year I only did Strade Bianche, in 2024 just the first month of spring. And this year I took everything from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad onwards. That really worked out very well for me, with the Flèche Wallonne as the highlight.”
“After that, I also performed better than ever on my mountain bike in the rainbow jersey, both in wins and winning with a gap. Around the Tour de France Femmes, I wasn’t fully fit. The fact that I crashed twice there didn’t help either. And after the Tour, the best was gone. All in all, what I showed was definitely on par with the previous year.”
Next year, expectations from the outside world will be higher again. What about your own expectations?
“I don’t expect to podium at every race in spring now. I mainly hope to be in the mix each time and then see what comes of it. I’ve shown that those Ardennes classics suit me well, so expectations will be a bit higher there. Especially if you win the Flèche Wallonne, you come back to try and win it again.”
Puck Pieterse| Race | Date |
|---|---|
 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup - Namur | 14 Dec |
