Zdenek Stybar to start in cyclocross World Championships
Jan 25 2021 10:43 pm CET
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Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Zdenek Stybar has added the World Cyclocross championships to his 2021 calendar.
The Czech rider has won three Cyclocross World titles -in 2010, 2011 and 2014- and he has added the competition in 2021 due to changes in his program caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The world championships will be held in Belgium, a country that is a second home for the rider.
"It was not expected that I would ride the Worlds this year, but things have evolved," said Stybar. "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 Czech rider is looking forward to start in the competition, where he will meet two riders that are also popular and successful on road cycling. "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," he explained. "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."
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