Mathieu Van der poel, who is the winner of Roubaix, grandfather girlfriend victories

And now one thinks that if he hadn’t found an extraordinary Tadej Pogacar on his way at the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu Van der Poel would now have completed an extraordinary Slam in the first three Monuments of spring: first at the Milano-Sanremo on Saturday 18 March, second at Rounds on April 2, first at Paris-Roubaix on April 9.

Well, but we can still say that the Dutch phenomenon can “make do”: don’t forget that we are talking about the same one who in February was crowned cyclo-cross world champion for the fifth time… And yes, also the fourth ever achieve the Sanremo-Roubaix double in the same year (the last Degenkolb was in 2015). He won’t be on stage at the Amstel on 16 April, which he has already won in the past, and it’s not strange: a well-deserved rest is now what is needed. We will see him again on the road at the Tour of Switzerland in June and then at the Tour de France.

van der poel legacy

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Mathieu Van der Poel’s is an extraordinary story above all because he comes from an extraordinary family. Father Adrie in the 80s had been able to win Flanders, Liège and two stages in the Tour. As for grandfather Raymond Poulidor (Adrie married Corinne, Poupou’s daughter) we are simply talking about one of the all-time idols of cycling France, king of Sanremo and Vuelta but famous above all for having finished the Tour de France on the final podium 8 times (3 times second, 5 third) without ever wearing the yellow jersey, which his nephew had dedicated to him at the 2021 Tour de France after having conquered it. And grandfather Poupou himself had presented the then 18-year-old Mathieu to everyone at the starting village of a stage of the 2014 Tour, a video that is often re-proposed and is highly clicked on the internet: “Here is my little phenomenon”, said Poulidor, betting on the fact that he would become stronger than both him and Adrie: he was a good prophet.

van der poel multipurpose

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Mvdp always says that the Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is more famous than him in the Netherlands, but he is certainly doing everything to equal him in popularity with successes in a country where cycling is a way of life (although he lives just over the border, in Kapellen in Belgium). Mathieu is the man of the three bikes, because he is a five-time cyclo-cross world champion who knows how to excel in all one-day road races: he has to update his score in the Monuments because it is impressive, 14 participations and only once (Sanremo 2020) outside the top 10. He has won 3 out of 5 like Pogacar, certainly Liège and Lombardy are the most difficult for him, but he took part in one each one only once and in the Belgian classic he finished sixth, in the Italian one tenth… Without forgetting that a fall in Tokyo 2020 prevented him from fighting for the Olympic gold medal in mountain biking, which he will now seek in Paris 2024. And that he already worn in his career both the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia and the yellow one of the Tour de France: he has always assured that he will not try to transform himself into a chaser of grand tours, and most likely he is right.

van der poel’s private

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He has an Achilles heel, by his own admission: his back, which he takes special care of because it has often made him suffer. And he managed to “get back up” after the controversial episode on the eve of the World Cup last year in Australia, when he was placed in custody for having chased and hit two girls who had knocked on the door of his hotel room, not making him sleep: an episode in any case for which he was later acquitted. Engaged to the influencer Roxanne Bertels, who worked in marketing for Porsche, Van der Poel is not one who talks with great pleasure about his private life, it can be said that he is rather reserved. He loves Italy – he often trained in Livigno in the past – history (especially that of the last century) and cars, as well as video games such as Fortnite. He chose cycling because he didn’t want to depend on others, and he had been tempted to leave school too, but then he continued until he graduated. At 28 he is in full competitive maturity and leaves the clear feeling that he still has other masterpieces in store. In this golden age of cycling Mvdp is one of the brightest champions, a guarantee of entertainment capable of inflaming a race when you least expect it. All that remains is to applaud him. And enjoy it.