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• Intermediate sprint 0
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• Victories 67
• Podiums 113

2012. IKO Enertherm - BKCP

1 er of the La Ronde Des Vallées

2 e of the La Philippe Gilbert juniors, of the second stage of the La Ronde Des Vallées (Noyal-Pontivy>Hémonstoir [ITT]), of the second stage of the LVM Saarland Trofeo (Erfweiler-Ehlingen>Erfweiler-Ehlingen)

3 e of the first stage of the La Ronde Des Vallées (Hémonstoir>Noyal-Pontivy), of the fourth stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Artemare>Hauteville-Lompnes), of the fourth stage of the LVM Saarland Trofeo (Reinheim>Reinheim)

4 e of the second stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Groissiat>Saint-Martin-de-Bavel)

6 e of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, of the third stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Châtillon-en-Michaille>Chavornay)

7 e of the stage 3b of the LVM Saarland Trofeo (Homburg>Homburg)

8 e of the first stage of the LVM Saarland Trofeo (Großrosseln>Sankt Nikolaus)

9 e of the World Championships MJ - Road Race, of the third stage of the La Ronde Des Vallées (Hémonstoir>Hémonstoir)

16 e of the first stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Serrières-de-Briord>Loyettes)

23 e of the LVM Saarland Trofeo

2013. IKO Enertherm - BKCP

1 er of the World Championships MJ - Road Race, of the Grand Prix Rüebliland, of the third stage of the Grand Prix Rüebliland (Hunzenschwil>Hunzenschwil [ITT]), of the second stage of the Grand Prix Rüebliland (Leutwil (Wampfle)>Leutwil (Wampfle)), of the first stage of the Grand Prix Rüebliland (Bettwil>Bettwil), of the Trophée Centre Morbihan, of the first stage of the Trophée Centre Morbihan (Elven>Gourhel), of the National Championships Netherlands MJ - Road Race, of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, of the fourth stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Artemare>Hauteville-Lompnès), of the first stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Saint-Maurice-de-Gourdans>Cheignieu-la-Balme), of the second stage of the GP Général Patton (Wincrange>Wincrange), of the first stage of the Course de la Paix Juniors (Litoměřice>Litoměřice)

2 e of the fourth stage of the Grand Prix Rüebliland (Brugg>Brugg), of the third stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Rumilly>Songieu), of the GP Général Patton

3 e of the Course de la Paix Juniors, of the third stage of the Course de la Paix Juniors (Teplice>Zinnwald)

5 e of the second stage of the Trophée Centre Morbihan (Réguiny>Naizin [ITT])

6 e of the first stage of the Keizer der Juniores (Reningelst>Reningelst), of the fourth stage of the Course de la Paix Juniors (Terezín>Terezín), of the stage 2b of the Course de la Paix Juniors (Roudnice nad Labem>Roudnice nad Labem)

8 e of the stage 2a of the Course de la Paix Juniors (Třebenice>Třebenice [ITT])

10 e of the stage 2a of the Keizer der Juniores (Wulpen>Wulpen [ITT])

12 e of the first stage of the GP Général Patton (Ettelbruck>Troisvierges)

13 e of the second stage of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour (Injoux-Génissiat>Echallon)

24 e of the Keizer der Juniores

2014. BKCP - Powerplus

1 er of the Baltic Chain Tour, of the fourth stage of the Baltic Chain Tour (Pärnu>Viljandi), of the third stage of the Tour Alsace (Dannemarie>Huningue), of the Ronde van Limburg

2 e of the first stage of the Baltic Chain Tour (Vilnius>Panevėžys)

3 e of the fifth stage of the Baltic Chain Tour (Viljandi>Tallinn), of the third stage of the Baltic Chain Tour (Valmiera>Pärnu), of the prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Laval>Laval)

4 e of the first stage of the Tour Alsace (Colmar>Sélestat), of the fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Lac de l'Eau d'Heure>Lac de l'Eau d'Heure)

6 e of the Tour Alsace

7 e of the second stage of the Tour Alsace (Strasbourg>Bischoffsheim), of the Simac Omloop der Kempen

10 e of the World Championships MU - Road Race

12 e of the National Championships Netherlands MU - Road Race

13 e of the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Renault St Berthevin>Bonchamp)

14 e of the fourth stage of the Tour Alsace (Ribeauvillé>Markstein), of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel

15 e of the second stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Jublains>Montaigu)

16 e of the second stage of the Baltic Chain Tour (Riga>Sigulda)

23 e of the Baloise Belgium Tour

2015. BKCP - Powerplus

2 e of the third stage of the Tour de l'Avenir (Champagnole>Tournus), of the third stage of the Tour Alsace (Ribeauvillé>Markstein)

4 e of the prologue of the Tour de l'Avenir (Tonnerre>Tonnerre), of the Tour Alsace

5 e of the fourth stage of the Tour Alsace (Colmar>Sélestat), of the second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Knokke-Heist>Herzele)

6 e of the Circuit de Wallonie, of the Baloise Belgium Tour

8 e of the second stage of the Tour Alsace (Dannemarie>Huningue)

9 e of the third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure>Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure)

10 e of the first stage of the Tour Alsace (Strasbourg>Bischoffsheim)

11 e of the prologue of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Bornem>Bornem)

17 e of the prologue of the Tour Alsace (Sausheim>Sausheim), of the fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Sankt Vith>Sankt Vith)

20 e of the National Championships Netherlands MU - Road Race

25 e of the Grand Prix Cerami

2016. Beobank - Corendon

7 e of the third stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Juvigné>Laval)

8 e of the Ronde van Limburg

12 e of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel, of the prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Laval>Laval)

14 e of the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Renault Saint-Berthevin>Château de Craon)

2017. Beobank - Corendon

1 er of the Duracell Dwars door het Hageland, of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel, of the third stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Saint Cyr-le-Gravelais>Laval), of the second stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Chantrigné>Hambers), of the second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Knokke-Heist>Moorslede)

2 e of the Elfstedenronde Brugge, of the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Renault Saint-Berthevin>Ernée)

3 e of the fourth stage of the Tour du Limousin-Périgord - Nouvelle Aquitaine (Saint-Junien>Limoges), of the first stage of the Tour du Limousin-Périgord - Nouvelle Aquitaine (Panazol>Rochechouart), of the prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Laval>Laval)

4 e of the second stage of the Tour Alsace (Belfort>Blotzheim)

19 e of the Tour du Limousin-Périgord - Nouvelle Aquitaine

24 e of the third stage of the Tour du Limousin-Périgord - Nouvelle Aquitaine (Saint-Pantaléon de Larche>Chaumeil)

2018. Corendon - Circus

1 er of the fourth stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Kvalsund>Alta), of the first stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Vadsø>Kirkenes), of the National Championships Netherlands ME - Road Race, of the Ronde van Limburg, of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel, of the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Renault St Berthevin>Gorron)

2 e of the third stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Honningsvåg>Hammerfest), of the European Continental Championships ME - Road Race, of the prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Laval>Laval)

5 e of the second stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (St Aignan De Couptrain>ré En Pail St Samson)

12 e of the Arctic Race of Norway

17 e of the third stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne - Crédit Mutuel (Congrier>Laval)

21 e of the second stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Tana>Kjøllefjord)

22 e of the Elfstedenronde Brugge

2019. Corendon - Circus

1 er of the Tour of Britain, of the eighth stage of the Tour of Britain (Altrincham>Manchester), of the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain (Warwick>Burton Dassett Country Park), of the fourth stage of the Tour of Britain (Gateshead>Kendal), of the first stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Å>Leknes), of the Amstel Gold Race, of the De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne ME, of the first stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour (La Châtaigneraie>La Châtaigneraie), of the Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME, of the Grand Prix de Denain - Porte du Hainaut, of the first stage of the Tour of Antalya (Beskonak>Antalya)

2 e of the third stage of the Tour of Britain (Berwick-upon-Tweed>Newcastle-upon-Tyne), of the second stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Henningsvær>Svolvær)

4 e of the first stage of the Tour of Britain (Glasgow>Kirkcudbright), of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields ME

5 e of the fourth stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour (Sillé-le-Guillaume>Sillé-le-Guillaume)

6 e of the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic, of the sixth stage of the Tour of Britain (Pershore>Pershore [ITT])

10 e of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour

12 e of the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro, of the second stage of the Tour of Antalya (Antalya>Antalya)

14 e of the fifth stage of the Tour of Britain (Birkenhead>Birkenhead), of the second stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour (Freigné>Belligné)

16 e of the fourth stage of the Tour of Antalya (Side>Antalya)

17 e of the second stage of the Tour of Britain (Kelso>Kelso)

19 e of the SUPER 8 Classic

22 e of the Arctic Race of Norway

23 e of the third stage of the Arctic Race of Norway (Sortland>Storheia Summit (Melbu)), of the third stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour (Abbaye Royale de l’Épau>Mont des Avaloirs)

2020. Alpecin - Fenix

1 er of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the Renewi Tour, of the fifth stage of the Renewi Tour (Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve>Geraardsbergen), of the seventh stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Pieve Torina>Loreto), of the National Championships Netherlands ME - Road Race

2 e of the De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne ME

3 e of the Druivenkoers - Overijse, of the Gran Piemonte

4 e of the European Continental Championships ME - Road Race

5 e of the fourth stage of the Renewi Tour (Riemst>Riemst [ITT])

6 e of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège

9 e of the Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields ME, of the first stage of the Renewi Tour (Blankenberge>Ardooie)

10 e of the Il Lombardia

11 e of the third stage of the Renewi Tour (Aalter>Aalter)

12 e of the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Follonica>Saturnia)

13 e of the Milano-Sanremo, of the Milano - Torino

14 e of the eighth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (San Benedetto del Tronto>San Benedetto del Tronto [ITT])

15 e of the Strade Bianche

2021. Alpecin - Fenix

1 er of the Antwerp Port Epic / Sels Trophy, of the second stage of the Tour de France (Perros-Guirec>Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan), of the third stage of the Tour de Suisse (Lachen>Pfaffnau), of the second stage of the Tour de Suisse (Neuhausen am Rheinfall>Lachen), of the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Castellalto>Castelfidardo), of the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Monticiano>Gualdo Tadino), of the Strade Bianche, of the first stage of the UAE Tour (Al Dhafra Castle>Al Mirfa)

2 e of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Camaiore>Chiusdino)

3 e of the E3 Saxo Classic, of the Paris-Roubaix

4 e of the seventh stage of the Tour de France (Vierzon>Le Creusot)

5 e of the fifth stage of the Tour de France (Changé>Laval Espace Mayenne [ITT]), of the Milano-Sanremo

7 e of the third stage of the Tour de France (Lorient>Pontivy)

8 e of the World Championships ME - Road Race, of the SUPER 8 Classic

12 e of the fourth stage of the Tour de France (Redon>Fougères), of the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

20 e of the first stage of the Tour de France (Brest>Landerneau)

25 e of the first stage of the Tour de Suisse (Frauenfeld>Frauenfeld [ITT])

2022. Alpecin - Fenix

1 er of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME, of the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (Montecatini>Montecatini), of the first stage of the Giro d'Italia (Budapest>Visegrád), of the Grand Prix de Wallonie

2 e of the second stage of the Giro d'Italia (Budapest>Budapest [ITT]), of the tenth stage of the Giro d'Italia (Pescara>Jesi)

3 e of the Milano-Sanremo, of the twenty-first stage of the Giro d'Italia (Verona>Verona [ITT])

4 e of the Amstel Gold Race, of the first stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (Riccione>Riccione)

5 e of the first stage of the Tour de France (Copenhagen>Copenhagen [ITT])

7 e of the eighth stage of the Giro d'Italia (Napoli>Napoli)

9 e of the Paris-Roubaix

12 e of the seventeenth stage of the Giro d'Italia (Ponte di Legno>Lavarone)

17 e of the third stage of the Giro d'Italia (Kaposvár>Balatonfüred)

19 e of the second stage of the Tour de France (Roskilde>Nyborg)

20 e of the twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia (Parma>Genova)

22 e of the fifth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (Casalguidi>Cantagrillo)

25 e of the third stage of the Tour de France (Vejle>Sønderborg)

2023. Alpecin - Deceuninck

1 er of the Milano-Sanremo, of the Paris-Roubaix, of the Baloise Belgium Tour, of the fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Durbuy>Durbuy), of the World Championships ME - Road Race, of the SUPER 8 Classic

2 e of the E3 Saxo Classic, of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Merelbeke>Knokke-Heist)

3 e of the National Championships Netherlands ME - Road Race

4 e of the third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Beveren>Beveren [ITT]), of the Grand Prix de Wallonie

6 e of the first stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Scherpenheuvel-Zichem>Scherpenheuvel-Zichem)

10 e of the fifth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour (Brussels>Brussels)

12 e of the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France (Moirans-en-Montagne>Poligny)

13 e of the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Follonica>Foligno), of the Duracell Dwars door het Hageland

14 e of the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (Lido di Camaiore>Lido di Camaiore [ITT])

22 e of the fourth stage of the Tour de France (Dax>Nogaro)

25 e of the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines>Paris)

2024. Alpecin - Deceuninck

1 er of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME, of the E3 Saxo Classic, of the Paris-Roubaix

2 e of the Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields ME

3 e of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège

10 e of the Milano-Sanremo

22 e of the Amstel Gold Race

Riders ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK

M. van der poel.

born on 19/01/1995

born on 03/08/1990

born on 11/01/1997

S. KRAGH ANDERSEN

born on 10/08/1994

A. LAURANCE

born on 13/04/2001

J. PHILIPSEN

born on 02/03/1998

J. RICKAERT

born on 07/02/1994

G. VERMEERSCH

born on 19/11/1992

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Mathieu van der Poel arrives at the Tour de France ready to be more than Jasper Philipsen’s delivery guy

After another sensational season picking up two more monument triumphs, the flying dutchman tells lawrence ostlere he is determined to add to his sole tour stage win.

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P erhaps the most enduring image of the cycling season so far is Mathieu van der Poel standing on the finish line of the Tour of Flanders with mud splattered down his crisp, white world champion’s jersey, raising his bike to the sky like an offering to the gods. Here was a rider so utterly dominant over a world-class field that he had time to hop off for some showmanship, and somehow still with the strength to lift his bike like paper after such a brutal ride.

It was, as it turned out, his last drop of energy.

“It’s one of the hardest races I’ve ever done,” Van der Poel said. He was asked if he could repeat the feat at Paris-Roubaix a week later. “I cannot think about Roubaix yet. I’m really, really f****d.”

He would go on to complete the double in equally emphatic style, becoming only the third man this century to win Flanders and Roubaix in the same year. Only nine men in the history of the sport have won more than his six Monument races and, aged 29, there is plenty of time to climb the list.

“Now it seems obvious that I am capable of winning another one but you never know what happens in cycling, of course, with injury or…” Van der Poel tells The Independent . He is scratching his head for anything else that might stop him, and he can’t come up with much. “You only get one opportunity a year to win each Monument, but I think I have some more in me. So we’ll see where I can end up.”

Both races were won with typically aggressive solo attacks that obliterated the field. Van der Poel is a master of this, of sensing the moment – the conditions, the weather, the distance, the feeling in his legs, the look in his rival’s eyes – and knowing when to go.

“It’s more art than science,” he says. “I never really plan my attacks. I always go on feel and how the race is developing. It’s just instinct to choose my moment, to feel the race a bit, and I think it’s one of my strengths. Then it’s basically just head down and go as fast as possible.”

Now the Tour de France looms and, for one of the greatest one-day riders of all time and a multidiscipline world champion, his cupboard is strangely bare. Van der Poel has only one stage win in three years riding the Tour.

There are some significant caveats. He has picked up plenty of assists along the way, delivering teammate Jasper Philipsen to the sprint finish on a silver plate while looking so serene you suspect he could have won it himself had he tried. Photographs would show Philipsen celebrating while in the background of the shot, a little out of focus, was Van der Poel, gliding over the line without breaking sweat.

Grand tours are a team game and Van der Poel is a committed team player, at times fulfilling the role of luxury sidekick, like the world’s best paid delivery guy. And yet, he is a demi-god of the sport who has barely made a footnote in the history books of its greatest race. Does that not bother him?

“Yeah, for sure. I would love to win a second one. But it’s becoming really difficult. The parcours [route] is getting harder and harder so there’s really limited chances on the Tour de France. There’s also a lot of riders that are capable of winning one but the goal is to try and win a second stage.”

He has arrived at past Tours with one eye on a looming Olympic Games or world championships, and has twice left the race early to prepare. This year will be different: Van der Poel is committed to riding the entire Tour, so much so that he has opted not to ride the Olympic mountain bike race this summer, scheduled only eight days after the Tour ends. He would have been favourite for gold.

Illness and a lack of freshness have also played their part in Van der Poel’s incomplete Tour de France story, but this time he feels sharp. Remarkably, the first stage of the Tour – which begins in Florence – will be only his eighth day of racing all year, and it is the kind of lumpy, hard route that it is easy to imagine him crushing to grab hold of the yellow jersey.

The gravel roads of stage nine also look perfectly suited to his skills, but Van der Poel has not planned his moments of attack. “You never know which stages you’re gonna feel great or when there’s a chance, and you also never know how they race that stage. So you have to be open-minded to grab the chance when it comes.”

His bromance with Philipsen is one of the key storylines in the second series of Netflix’s popular Tour de France: Unchained . The duo are painted as the jocks of the peloton, bad boys who don’t care about crashes, rules or fines. It is an embellishment of the truth, though undoubtedly they share a ruthless streak.

“It’s fun,” Van der Poel says of their partnership. “He’s really focused before his sprints, of course, which is a good thing, but for the rest he’s just a relaxed guy and he doesn’t bother too much.”

Van der Poel won’t be watching the new series. “I haven’t watched the first series so I don’t think I will watch the second one,” he laughs. “That’s one of the reasons why I don’t watch it, of course. I saw with Formula One, there’s also some drivers that don’t really like how they came out of the series. Of course they tried to create some drama and create some characters.”

Van der Poel made headlines this spring when he signed a 10-year contract with Canyon . Lucrative partnerships between famous brands and riders with star power are becoming more common in the peloton, although Van der Poel’s deal is by far the longest and most eye-catching.

At the same time, he signed a five-year contract with his team, Alpecin-Deceuninck. That contract, combined with the make-up of his Canyon deal – five years as a rider, five as an ambassador – indicates a retirement plan at the age of 34.

“[Canyon] has been part of the journey I’ve been through and I’ve always been super happy with the bikes, so it was quite an easy decision. Also with the ambassador role, I will not be a cyclist for 10 years any more, but I would like to still be able to be an ambassador for such a big brand when I retire.”

Long sponsorship deals are not always straightforward at the top of the sport, as riders tend to keep themselves free to move between different teams that work with different manufacturers. But Van der Poel has been with the Belgium-based Alpecin-Deceuninck his entire career and plans to see out his days there.

It is easy to see why Canyon would want Van der Poel as their face, when he lifts his bike over his head like a trophy on the finish line in Flanders. Google searches and sales of the bike he rides spiked after his major wins. Now, after three years of illness, distraction and serving others, Van der Poel is ready to build his own brand at the Tour de France.

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Tour de France

After an attacking start to stage 11, mathieu van der poel quits tour de france, dutch rider had been on back foot for entire race as giro form eluded him..

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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) abandoned the Tour de France on stage 11 after initially going on the attack in the Alpine stage.

Van der Poel had fought on in the race seeking to ride back into form, having earlier said he was ‘a shadow’ of his usual self. Despite an adrenaline-stirring attack with long-time rival Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) early on Wednesday’s stage, he climbed off his bike.

The Dutchman finally called it quits on the ascent of the Col du Télégraphe, bringing to an end his second participation in the race.

He made his debut last year, winning stage 2 and leading the Tour for six days prior to voluntarily leaving the event to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.

• Mathieu van der Poel on Tour de France cobblestone no-show: ‘I’m a shadow of myself’
• Mathieu van der Poel calls Giro d’Italia debut a success and sets sights on Tour de France
• One grand tour too many for Mathieu van der Poel? Tour de France abandon on the agenda

His participation this time around has been considerably less successful, with fifth in the opening time trial his only top 10 result. He was also 19th on stage 2 and 25th on stage 3 but otherwise was outside the top 70 on every other day.

Speaking after the cobblestones on stage 5, a terrain where he would normally expect to shine, he said things hadn’t gone to plan at all.

“It’s not positive. Instead of a better day, I was worse today,” he told Wielerlflits then. “I am currently a shadow of myself and that is frustrating. I have no idea what it is about. I am not really ready to burn at the moment.”

Since then he hoped to reignite his usual flair. Attacking early on during Wednesday’s stage 11 gave Van der Poel’s fans some hope that things were on the up.

He went clear with Van Aert immediately after the start and opened a 40-second lead over the peloton. After netting second behind Van Aert in the intermediate sprint, he became part of a 20-man breakaway group when other riders bridged across to them.

However, Van der Poel was the first of those riders to be dropped, cracking just under 50 kilometers into the stage and sliding backward to, and through, the peloton. He retired from the race almost exactly one hour after dropping from the break.

The Dutchman and his team will take time to work out what went wrong at the Tour but it is quite possible that an over-ambitious schedule this year will have been a factor.

Too much too soon?

After suffering from back problems which delayed his season start, he was third in Milan San Remo, his first event of the year, won a stage in the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, took both the Tour of Flanders and Dwars door Vlaanderen, was fourth in the Amstel Gold Race and ninth in Paris-Roubaix, He then lined out in the Giro d’Italia.

Van der Poel shone there, winning the opening stage to take the pink jersey, then finishing second on stage two. He also took stage placings of second and seventh elsewhere in the event, was constantly on the attack throughout the event, and then took third in the final time trial.

He was judged the most aggressive rider on stage 17 and also for the race as a whole.

“I didn’t have the best preparation for the Giro, it was really tight after the classics season,” he said after the end of the Italian grand tour. “To succeed in my main goal, I was going for the pink jersey. Finishing the Giro was also one of the goals and I succeeded. I think I can be really happy.”

He clearly wasn’t in anything like the same shape in the Tour de France. Many riders have struggled to ride well in both the Giro and the Tour de France, including general classification riders who are more suited to the demands of the high mountains.

Van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck may ultimately conclude that trying both Grand Tours on the back of a patchy winter and hectic early season may have burned all his matches.

Indeed Van der Poel has already said this is a possibility.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy combination. But I didn’t expect to be so disappointing myself,” he told reporters at the end of stage 6. “For me, three weeks of racing is different from racing one race – that also applies to me mentally.

“In the Giro, there was that chance of pink and I wanted to finish the whole race anyway. But now here we are. It’s not fun like this.”

Six days later, he’s decided the pain is not yielding any gain.

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21 things you didn’t know about Mathieu van der Poel

From his relationship with Wout van Aert to his favourite video game

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Mathieu van der Poel is a man who has almost won everything within his powers. The 29-year-old has won the World Championships, Milan-San Remo , Paris-Roubaix twice, and the Tour of Flanders thrice, stages of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia , over a glittering career. The Dutchman has also been cyclo-cross world champion six times, and likes to dabble in mountain biking too. 

1. Mathieu was born in Belgium to a French mother and a Dutch father, but races under the Dutch flag

2. His grandfather on his mum’s side was Raymond Poulidor, “the Eternal Second”, who finished second in the Tour de France three times, and third place five times. The Frenchman died in 2019

3. His team honoured this at the 2021 Tour de France, wearing a special purple and yellow kit for the first stage that year, in the colour of the Mercier-BP-Hutchinson team

4. Both Van der Poel and Poulidor tasted victory at Milan-San Remo, as well as both claiming stage wins at the Tour de France, 50 years apart

5. He rode for the IKO Enertherm - BKCP club in 2012, a multi-gender group which also had three-time cyclo-cross world champion Sanne Cant on its roster

6. His dad is former Tour de France stage, Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Adri van der Poel

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7. The wins that both Van der Poels share are stage victories at the Tour of Britain, Tour de France and and Tirreno-Adriatico, and victories at the Amstel Gold Race, the Dutch National Championships, Brabantse Pijl, the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race

8. He once took part in a race because he was bored. In October 2022, the Dutchman took part in the Giro del Veneto in the days between the Gravel World Championships and the Serenissima Gravel because he didn’t want to sit around in his hotel room 

9. Mathieu van der Poel’s elder brother, David, was also a rider, with a single career victory, at the Tour Alsace in 2018

10. He first pulled on the cyclo-cross rainbow bands - as a junior - in 2012 at Koksijde, where he beat then man who would go on to become his main rival through his career, Wout van Aert

11. Van der Poel is not friends with Van Aert, his great rival. "They have never been close," Niels Albert, Van Aert's former coach, told Cyclingnews . "They would never really talk to each other at races, and especially not away from races.”

12. His first major road win came in 2013, when he won the Dutch National Championships as a junior, with the World Championship road race also coming his way that year

13. He loves the video game Fortnite so much that Shimano made a special pair of cycling shoes adorned with motifs from the battle royale-style phenomenon

14. He became the youngest ever cyclo-cross world champion when he won the World Championships in 2015, at 20 years and 13 days

15. His first senior road win came in 2014 at the Ronde van Limburg, but his first WorldTour win did not come until 2019 at Dwars door Vlaanderen

16. He hit 1362 watts on his way to storming to victory at Strade Bianche in 2021

17. He has never won a stage of a Grand Tour past stage two: his only wins came on stage two of the Tour de France in 2021 and stage one of the Giro d’Italia in 2022

18. He is only one of four riders to have won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, after his 2023 exploits

19. He is a brand ambassador for Lamborghini Antwerp, with his own Urus complete with specialised number plate

20. He has dabbled in mountain biking, winning the European Championships in 2019, and competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was at the Tokyo Olympics that he crashed and injured his back, an injury which has hampered him since

21. He was charged with two counts of common assault at the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, after a confrontation with two teenage girls. He was fined but the conviction was later quashed by an Australian court

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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Mathieu van der Poel: Five things to know about the Dutch multi-discipline cycling star and new road race world champion

The new road race world champion, a five-time cyclocross world champion, has also already won three of the five road monument classic one-day races in his career. Can he complete the set? Here are five things you should know about the Dutchman.

(REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska)

Mathieu van der Poel is one of cycling's hottest names at the moment.

The Dutchman's impressive 15km solo Paris-Roubaix win in April had added his name among the greats of the sport to have won two historic Monuments in a single season, coming after he won Milano–Sanremo in March.

Now, he is the world road race champion after a thrilling race in Glasgow on Sunday (6 August 2023).

But who is Mathieu van der Poel? The 28-year-old has made a name for himself not just in road cycling , but other cycling disciplines too. And away from the road, some less savoury headlines – although they have all formed part of his experiences that continue to make him one of the sport's best all-rounders.

We've picked out five things to know about the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by UCI (@uci_cycling)

1. Cycling royalty in his family

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Mathieu van der Poel turned into such an impressive all-round cyclist, when you consider his genes.

His dad Adrie van der Poel won two Tour de France stages and two Monuments himself, the Tour of Flanders in 1986 and Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1988. The younger van der Poel would go on to repeat his father's Flanders classic victories in 2020 and 2022.

And his maternal grandfather is the French great Raymond Poulidor , 'Pou-Pou', who won seven Tour de France stages and finished second overall three times, as well as winning the Vuelta a España, Critérium du Dauphiné (twice), and Paris–Nice (twice) general classifications during his career.

Poulidor also won Milano–Sanremo in 1961, a feat Mathieu would repeat 62 years later.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by MVDP (@mathieuvanderpoel)

2. The historic chase for a career Monument sweep

Van der Poel has now won three of the five Monuments – Sanremo (2023), Flanders (2020 and 2022 ), and Roubaix (2023).

His Sanremo and Roubaix double this year puts him in an exclusive group of just 25 male cyclists to have won two Monuments in one year .

Additionally, he is in an even smaller pool of just four men to have won both Milano–Sanremo and Paris–Roubaix in the same year, joining Cyrille van Hauwaert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986), and John Degenkolb (2015).

Only two of the big five remain for van der Poel: Liège–Bastogne–Liège , which his father won in 1988, and Il Lombardia – a race in which both his father and grandfather each finished on the podium twice.

Mathieu van der Poel has competed only once in each of those races, but obtained strong results: sixth in Liège and 10th in Il Lombardia, both in 2020.

Although he did not compete in Liège this year, instead turning his attention to the big summer stage races, a push for the career sweep which only three men have achieved isn't out of the question.

3. Road, cyclo-cross, mountain bike, and gravel cycling: MVDP all in one

When it comes to cycling, van der Poel is one of a wave of riders who is comfortable over more than one type of terrain on more than one type of bike.

The Dutchman began his career as a cyclo-cross rider, piling up an impressive palmarès before switching to the road.

Van der Poel continues to ride cyclo-cross events in winter, and is the defending world champion in that discipline, having won the rainbow jersey five times .

He has also raced in mountain bike , being crowned MTB European champion in 2019 after taking world bronze in 2018 and competing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021 in this discipline.

And more recently, van der Poel contested the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships 2023 – a race over gravel and off-road terrain similar to a mountain bike or cyclo-cross race, but over a long road-like distance. He won bronze in that event.

However, the 28-year-old has said he feels like juggling the different disciplines can hold him back.

"When I don't do cyclo-cross I have a good build-up [for the road season]," van der Poel said this past winter ahead of his successful road classics campaign. "That's the problem – it's so busy. I didn't want to miss the (2023 cyclo-cross) Worlds in Hoogerheide for all the money in the world.

"But if I had to map out the perfect winter now, it would be one without cyclo-cross."

It didn't seem to hurt him too much this year, as van der Poel reflected on his Roubaix win by calling this his "best classic season ever."

4. Long-lasting rivalry with Wout van Aert

Van der Poel has established a long-running cordial rivalry with Belgium's Wout van Aert , dating back to their days in the junior cyclo-cross ranks.

Born just four months apart, the two have seen their careers overlap in both cyclo-cross and road cycling over the last decade.

While the rivalry has had its low points, notably clashes in cyclo-cross in 2016 and 2017 as well as an incident on the road at the 2020 Gent-Wevelgem, it has developed into one with a healthy respect for each other.

Speaking after beating van Aert in a sprint at the 2023 cyclo-cross Worlds, van der Poel said: "I think if you take one of us two away, then it makes the race less interesting for sure. After our career it will be something special to look back on."

On the road, the Belgian was the first to make the grade, but Van der Poel has the upper hand in terms of major wins, with his four Monument titles outstripping Wout van Aert's one.

Notably, their rivalry appears to have expanded to include other men, with Britain's Tom Pidcock in the frame in cyclo-cross and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar making a smooth transition on the road from general classification contender to one-day classics challenger.

5. 2022 gone awry - and it's pushing him on

For all his recent success, Mathieu van der Poel had to overcome a difficult 2022.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, the Dutchman competed in the mountain bike cross-country race. However, he crashed out after a ramp he practised on during pre-race training was removed for the race, leaving him with a back injury.

That back injury carried on and hampered van der Poel's 2022 season, forcing him to sit out most of the cyclo-cross campaign, although he did still experience some success on the road by winning Flanders.

However, the jewel of van der Poel's calendar was the Road World Championships in Australia – which went wrong in the worst possible way.

After falling victim to a hotel knock-and-run prank to two teenagers, he was arrested and pled guilty to common assault after the girls received minor injuries when he confronted them.

The Dutchman withdrew just 30km into the world championships road race having had no sleep, and although his conviction was overturned on appeal, the big goal of the season had slipped him by.

That seemed to be just another factor pushing van der Poel on as he seeked out more greatness on the road.

And with his 2023 world championship win, perhaps he has finally put to bed those demons of the year prior.

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Tour of Flanders Men 2024 Result: Mathieu Van Der Poel blows the field away for historic De Ronde hat-trick

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Paris Olympic Games Men's Road Race Live - Evenepoel, Van der Poel, Van Aert and other favourites tackle long, ultra-hilly course

Olympic Games 2024 - Everything you need to know Paris Olympics: Men's Road Race - Preview Paris 2024 Olympics road race course

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews ' live coverage of the men's road race at the Paris Olympic Games!

Racing for the 90 riders taking part in the quest to succeed Ecuador's Richard Carapaz as Olympic Men's RR Champion will start in about 90 minutes time from the start/finish area of Place du Trocadéro. Carapaz himself is not taking part, with Ecuador represented by his compatriot Jhonatan Narváez.

A wide-open race is predicted and there are plenty of favourites. Stephen Farrand has this report on the latest news from one of the strongest teams, the Belgians.

'A unique opportunity' - Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert combine for Belgium in Olympics road race

While we're waiting for the men's race to start, don't forget the Olympic Women's Road Race will take place on Sunday. Laura Weislo has the latest about one leading favourite, Lotte Kopecky:

Paris Olympics: Lotte Kopecky hoping Dutch team will take charge as favourites in women's road race

Here's a first shot of a rider from the startline in central Paris, Julian Alaphilippe (France). Alaf'   is going to be one of the key names to follow in today's race.

Just over ten minutes until the racing begins in Paris for the Olympic men's road race. 

Sign on has happened. Here are four riders who all have a chance today. Likely with a focus on Olympic time trial gold and bronze medalists, Remco Evenepoel and Wout Van Aert. 

The riders are on the start line and are ready to go as Peter Sagan drops the 'brigadier' stick to bring luck on the event. 

Neutral start

And the neutralised start begins with this very small peloton in sunny Paris. 

No defending champion, Richard Carapaz. The Ecuadorian federation went for Giro d'Italia stage one winner and pink jersey wearer, Jhonatan Narvaez instead of Tour de France stage winner and polka dot jersey winner. 

None of the last three Olympic champions are here as 2020 (21) was Carapaz who is heading to La Vuelta later this month. Then, 2016, Greg Van Avermaet retired at the end of last season and 2012 was Alexander Vinokurov who retired quite a while ago now and now runs team Astana Qazaqstan. 

272.1km to go

We are racing!

Eric Manizabayo (RWA)

Thanakhan Chaiyasombat (THA)

Chrisopher Rougier-Lagane (MAU)

Charles Kagimu (UGA) joins the leaders along with Achraf Ed Doghmy (MOR). 

Charles Kagimu (UGA)

Achraf Ed Doghmy (MOR)

+1'33" between the break and the Denmark led peloton. 

What a brilliant view at the start. 

All that effort to get into the breakaway and now he is out of the back again as he is unable to fix it with his car behind the peloton and neutral service are not able to help either. 

Lots of the big favourites are sitting near the back. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) riding a golden Canyon today. He isn't the only one, though. Pinarello riders have a gold and black frame to ride. 

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🎥 Zoals alleen Van der Poel dat kan: wereldkampioen lanceert nieuwe Canyon-fiets in (wheelie-)stijl

Met zijn Olympic MACH874 Aeroad Canyon-fiets de olympische wegtitel veroveren lukte Mathieu van der Poel helaas niet, het nieuw gelanceerde model in stijl promoten zeer zeker wel. Op Instagram verscheen vrijdagavond een video van de wereldkampioen, die geheel in stijl binnen kwam rijden op het kantoor van Canyon. U raadt het al: de man uit Kapellen deed dat met een heuse wheelie!

De Duitse fietsenfabrikant lanceerde afgelopen week officieel het allernieuwste model uit de serie en wie anders dan Van der Poel was dé man bij uitstek om die tweewieler wat extra shine te geven.

ARTICLE_IN_1

Video: Van der Poel trekt wheelie op (peperdure) Canyon-fiets

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'I knew the Koppenberg would be chaos' – Mathieu van der Poel conquers Tour of Flanders on toughest climb

Dutchman solo for 44km as he claims record-equalling third Ronde win

The Koppenberg hasn’t always smiled on Mathieu van der Poel . In November 2018, still a few months away from transferring his cyclocross talents to top-level racing on the road, the Dutchman endured a torrid afternoon on its slopes at the Koppenbergcross.

After lumbering home in 21st place, an almost unthinkable four minutes down on the day’s winner, Van der Poel could only shake his head in resignation. Even though he had won the race the year before, his relationship with the steep cobbled climb at its heart was always an uneasy one. “No,” Van der Poel said that afternoon. “This is not my climb.”

At the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, by contrast, the Koppenberg, like the race itself, belonged to Van der Poel alone. The combination of vertiginous gradient and rain-slicked cobbles forced almost the entire field to unclip and walk, but Van der Poel, inevitably, made light of the climb and the conditions, forging his record-equalling third Ronde victory on its slopes.

With a shade over 44km remaining, the world champion made what proved to be the race-winning attack by launching a seated acceleration on the steepest pitches of the Koppenberg. Behind, only Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made it up the climb without unclipping, but they were already competing in a different race to Van der Poel.

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“I knew once it started raining that the Koppenberg would be chaos,” Van der Poel explained when he took a seat in the press conference afterwards. “When all the other teams started attacking us, I asked my team to create a controllable situation until the Koppenberg, because I knew from there I would be alone anyway. I think they did an amazing job.”

By his telling, Van der Poel hadn’t even intended to attack on the Koppenberg. But these days, in the midst of his imperial phase on the road, the Dutchman gives the disquieting impression that he is able to ride away from his rivals without even realising it. Once he glanced over his shoulder at the summit and saw he had a 10-second buffer over Jorgenson, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider seemed to figure he might as well win it there and then.

“We’ve all seen the images of the Koppenberg from the past and what a chaos it is when it’s wet. And I also knew from cyclocross what it’s like when it’s a bit muddy there, so I knew it would be a crucial point,” Van der Poel said.

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“I started in front at the steepest part of Koppenberg just to stay out of trouble. It was super slippery and really difficult to get traction there. It was not really the plan to be alone from there on, but yeah, there was no way back.”

Seemingly condemned by his raw strength to attack from distance, Van der Poel quickly established an insurmountable lead over his pursuers. He had 24 seconds by the time he crested the Steenbeekdries, and that gap yawned out to a minute atop the Taaienberg. By that point, Van der Poel was no longer racing against his contemporaries, but against history itself as his lead inched towards the two-minute mark, a margin unseen since the days of Eddy Merckx.

There was, however, a mild sting in the tail for Van der Poel, whose efforts finally began to take their toll after he had hauled himself up the Kwaremont and Paterberg for the final time. For a moment, he even feared a hunger flat of the kind that saw his challenge unravel in the rain at the Yorkshire Worlds in 2019, but he righted himself beneath the deluge to reach Oudenaarde more than a minute clear.

“I was crawling towards the finish, I wasn’t even close to the powers I normally ride in the end,” Van der Poel said. “It makes me think a bit of Harrogate, to be honest. The circumstances were a bit the same. I was quite empty and that was maybe the hardest Ronde I’ve ever done.

“There were attacks from far, the first hour was quite fast, there were rainy conditions, we had to go full on every climb… It was a really hard one. I don’t think I was ever so happy to see the last kilometre.”

As well as the lingering threat of a  fringale , Van der Poel had to negotiate an unruly home crowd on the Kwaremont, where he was doused in beer and jeered by some spectators, as he had been at the cyclocross in Hulst last winter. He shook off the incident when asked about it afterwards. “I was busy with winning the race,” he said, “so I couldn’t care less, to be honest.”

Van der Poel lined up at this Tour of Flanders as the overwhelming favourite for victory, but the absence of the injured Wout van Aert arguably complicated his task here, given that the weight of controlling the peloton fell entirely on his Alpecin-Deceuninck team.

It proved to be a most unruly race, with contenders Jorgenson and Pedersen already tested the waters with 110km remaining, but the world champion never really looked like being outflanked. His flex on the Valkenberg, when he stitched the race back together with a solo effort, had the feel of an early admonishment to his rivals.

“We knew already other teams would start attacking from super far away,” Van der Poel said. “My team did a super job keeping it under control. That’s all I asked for today, because I knew at a certain point the strongest would have to battle it out.”

Van der Poel’s third Tour of Flanders victory sees him equal the record jointly held by Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. The outright record looks firmly within the grasp of a man who has now placed on the Ronde podium five years in succession, and never finished lower than fourth. Next Sunday, meanwhile, Van der Poel has the chance to complete a Ronde-Roubaix double in the rainbow jersey, like Rik Van Looy in 1962.

“Records are not something that keep me occupied, my career is already way more than I would have expected,” Van der Poel said. “I’m really fucked right now, so it will take time to realise what I’ve done. It’s something I could never have dreamed, to win the Ronde as world champion. That’s something special.”

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Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation , published by Gill Books.

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