Mathieu van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel is a Dutch all-round professional cyclist competing in road racing, mountainbiking and cyclo-cross. Born in Belgium, he is the youngest son of former pro cyclist Adrie van der Poel. Mathieu was born to a cycling family. His uncle Jacques is a former pro cyclist. Brother David, three years his senior, is also a cyclo-cross rider. His father Adrie married Corinne Poulidor, youngest daughter of French cycling icon Raymond Poulidor. He is a 6-fold UCI Cyclo-cross World Champion, two titles short of an all-time record. In 2023, he became UCI World Road Champion in Glasgow, Scotland. He became the first rider to win both [the cyclo-cross and the road race] world titles in the same year. Van der Poel has won stages of the Tour de France (2021) and Giro d'Italia (2022) and wore the leader's jersey in both Grand Tours in those years. In addition, Van der Poel was victorious in cobbled classics Tour of Flanders (thrice) and Paris-Roubaix (twice). A one-day racing specialist, he has also won Italian 'monument' race Milan-San Remo (2023) and Italian gravel race Strade Bianche (2021). One of his most famous victories, however, is that in Dutch one-day race and spring classic the Amstel Gold Race. He won this race in 2019 as reigning Dutch national road champion after an acclaimed catch-up race. After some mechanical problems, no one believed he would return to the front of the race. He overruled the first group only in the final meters to win the race. He has a relationship with Belgian Roxanne Bertels since 2018. They met in Finland. The relationship is childless as of 2024.