Following a fourth-placed finish at Wednesday's GP de Wallonie, his third race in the rainbow stripes of world champion, Mathieu van der Poel has said that he could call time on his season early.
The Dutchman, who soloed to glory in Glasgow a month ago to pick up his first road world title, said "I'll no longer reach my top form, both physically and mentally" despite having three races left on his 2023 calendar.
Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Van der Poel said that he "never expected to win yet" at Wallonie – his best result since the Worlds – but recognised that he's had a long year, one which started with a winter cyclocross campaign and a fifth world title in that discipline.
"I never expected to win yet," he said. "Remember that the MTB World Championships [August 12] was normally going to be my last race of the season.
"I added everything that I've ridden since then. But I notice myself that I'll no longer reach my top form, both physically and mentally."
There will be no taking part in the upcoming UEC European Championships – where he raced in 2018 and 2020 – nor the UCI Gravel World Championships for Van der Poel. The 28-year-old said that he needed "a bit of decompression."
He still has a handful of race days lying between now and the end of his season, with the Super 8 Classic (September 16), Circuit Franco-Belge (September 28), and Paris-Tours (October 8) coming up as well as the 2024 Olympics MTB test event on September 24.
Van der Poel said that the test event is one certainty on the calendar but remained unsure about continuing his road season.
"The Olympic test event I definitely still want to do," he said. "Just to have the feeling on the mountain bike again and because I definitely want to know the course for the Olympics. That's also why I kept on racing [at Wallonie] all day; I hope I can get a bit better. But I already know that I'm not going to reach my best form now.
"I don't know if I'm going to make it to those yet," he added, referring to the trio of road races. "I think Paris-Tours is one of the nicer races of the season; that's why I wanted to ride it. But if [the form] doesn't get better, I don't know.
"Just riding around to ride around doesn't make much sense. Maybe it would be better to rest and prepare for the cyclocross season. A longer period without a race will do me good."
Van der Poel has racked up 45 race days since starting his road season at Strade Bianche in March following a 15-race day cyclocross season. He's enjoyed the best season of his career, winning two Monuments in Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix to go with his two world titles.
However, he admitted that he noticed that, at this late stage in the season, his best legs
"Of course, it has already been a fantastic but long season for me," he said. "Since the Cyclocross World Championships in January, I have been almost uninterrupted.
"I would have liked to still have the legs from before, but I just don't have them. I know my body well enough – I notice it during training. I don't ride around as easily as I did earlier this season. Then you can hope that you improve race by race, but that isn't working for the time being."
