Mathieu van der Poel (born 19 January 1995) is a Dutch professional cyclist who rides for the UCI WorldTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck. He competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain biking and road racing disciplines of the sport.
He is best known for winning the Road Race World Championships in Glasgow in 2023 and the Junior Road Race World Championships in Florence in 2013 and is arguably the best cyclo-cross rider ever winning the Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tábor in 2015, Bogense in 2019, Dübendorf in 2020, Ostend in 2021, Hoogerheide in 2023, again Tábor in 2024 and twice winning the Junior Cyclo-cross World Championships, in Koksijde in 2012 and Louisville in 2013. He also won the Cyclo-cross European Championships in Tábor in 2017, 's-Hertogenbosch in 2018 and Trebaseleghe in 2019, the Cross-country Mountain Bike European Championships in Brno in 2019 and twice the Junior Cyclo-cross European Championships, in Lucca in 2011 and Ipswich in 2012; the first rider to win at the highest level in three different cycling disciplines.
As well as these international titles, Van der Poel is the winner of the Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships between 2015 and 2020, the Dutch National Mountain Bike Cross-country Championships in 2018 and the Dutch National Road Race Championships in 2018 and 2020, as well as the Strade Bianche in 2021, the E3 Saxo Classic in 2024, the 2019 and 2022 editions of Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Brabantse Pijl in 2019 and the Amstel Gold Race in 2019. He won a stage in the 2021 Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey, a stage in the 2022 Giro d'Italia and wore the pink jersey, won the 2019 Tour of Britain, the 2020 BinckBank Tour, the 2023 Tour of Belgium, the 2019 Grand Prix de Denain, the 2022 Grand Prix de Wallonie and the 2023 Super 8 Classic.
Van der Poel is a sixfold Monument winner, conquering Milan-San Remo in 2023, the Tour of Flanders in 2020, 2022 and 2024 and Paris-Roubaix in 2023 and 2024. His rivalry with Wout van Aert is considered among the greatest and longest lasting rivalries in the sport.
Source : Wikipedia
