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What tosh. He was out injured, and didn't start his season until the beginning of November. His team also attended the US World Cup round too, so there wasn't a budget issue either.
andyp-
Van der Poel questions US World Cups and UCI responds
"The World Cups in America, what do they really result in?" mused Van der Poel at his team launch in early September. "They'd (UCI) be better making cyclocross more international within Europe to begin with."
"Even if I'd not been injured, I don't know if I'd race them (Vegas and Iowa). I'd have been considering skipping those World Cups," the Dutchman added.
Van der Poel went on to voice the same concerns about cost and returns that many other people involved with the big Belgian teams have been hinting at (some of them off the record to Cyclocrossrider) for a season or two now.
Sporza quoted the young Dutchman saying: "I don't see the value in racing them, because there is no support from the UCI for the travelling teams. You have to pay everything yourself as a team and it costs us lots of money. And what for? Do they make 'cross any more international? I don't think they do."
SomethingOrOther
Not so much slow but MVDP missed the first two worlds as America was so far away and so expensive and general sulking.