VAN DER POEL. In difficulty since the start of the Tour de France, Mathieu van der Poel suffered a puncture yesterday during a stage he had targeted. The Dutchman is one of the favorites today during the 6th stage.
Where did Mathieu van der Poel go in this Tour de France 2022? Expected from the first stages of the Grande Boucle, the rider from the Alpecin-Fenix ??formation went through during the 4th stage before suffering a puncture during the 5th stage on the cobblestones. In Stage 6 today between Binche and Longwy, a puncher should win and the Dutchman is one of the favorites for victory. After participating in the Giro and wearing the leader’s pink jersey, he certainly lost a lot of energy for the Grande Boucle.
Prodigy of world cycling, his current poor form is surprising and the main interested party was not looking for excuses after the 5th stage: “Today (Wednesday July 6), I was worse (than Tuesday July 5). I am the shadow of myself and it’s frustrating. I have no idea what’s wrong with me. I didn’t have the legs I wanted. I already had my doubts at the start this morning, because my first days of the Tour were already not good. But we rode calmly, it was not visible. Today, it was really the stage that I liked and a lot of things were possible, but not with these legs- there. I felt it very early on. I didn’t even have the juice to place myself before the first sector.
Biography Mathieu van der Poel. Mathieu van der Poel was born on January 19, 1995 in Kapellen, Belgium. Coming from a family of cyclists, his father is Adrie van der Poel, his mother is Corinne Poulidor, daughter of cycling legend, Raymond Poulidor. In his childhood, the Dutchman began with football where his talent did not go unnoticed, so much so that he passed tests with flying colors at the club of Willem II, in the Netherlands. But later, he chose cycling where he followed in his brother’s footsteps and made his debut in cyclo-cross competition among the cadets (15-16 years old) during the 2009-2010 season.
A cycling prodigy, the native of Kapellen won the vast majority of the races he competed in during the following seasons, when in 2012-2013 he took his first steps on the road and finished ninth in the Junior Road World Championship. A fabulous destiny seems promised to the Dutchman who does not take long to confirm the hopes of his peers who rest on him. He retained his title of Junior World Champion in cyclo-cross during the 2012-2013 season after winning it the previous year.
At the start of the 2014 season, Mathieu van der Poel turned professional with the Belgian team BKCP-Powerplus where he joined his brother David by signing a four-year contract. This 2014-2015 season was marked by van der Poel’s world title in cyclo-cross. The 2015 season was a hard blow for Raymond Poulidor’s grandson who fell during the fourth stage of the Tour de l’Avenir and injured his knee. An injury that requires an operation. He returned to competition via cyclo-cross, finishing fifth in the 2016 World Championship won by Wout van Aert. He misses the 2016-2017 cyclo-cross season after having surgery on both knees.
During the 2017-2018 season, he won the general classification of the cylco-cross World Cup after winning 32 races and finishing on the podium 38 times. The following season, he dominated his eternal rival Wout van Aert at the cyclo-cross World Championships and won his second world crown. A performance that he repeats in 2020 where Mathieu van der Poel becomes for the third time in his young career, cyclo-cross world champion then a fourth time in 2021. The Dutchman has the particularity of being very successful in three disciplines cycling: cyclo-cross, road cycling and mountain biking. Considered on the road as a “puncher-sprinter”, Raymond Poulidor’s grandson has a top speed well above average over short distances. Very resistant, its high pedaling rate often allows it to delay physical fatigue.
Six times Dutch cyclo-cross champion, four times World cyclo-cross champion and three-time European cyclo-cross champion, Mathieu van der Poel’s track record is already quite full. Not to mention his victories in road cycling: the Amstel Gold Race in 2019, the Tour of Flanders 2020 and 2022, the Strade Bianche 2021. Mathieu van der Poel is the first Dutch rider champion in cyclo-cross, cross-country mountain biking and in road cycling.
Like his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, Mathieu van der Poel took the start of his first Tour de France in 2021 at the age of 26, where the Dutchman, winner of the second stage, wore the yellow jersey for six days before losing it from the start. first mountain stage in favor of Tadej Pogacar. The native of Kapellen gave up on the 9th stage of the Grande Boucle in order to best prepare for the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics where he fell before giving up. In 2022, Mathieu van der Poel will participate in his first Giro (May 6-29).
Son of Adrie van der Poel and Corinne Poulidor, Mathieu van der Poel is the grandson of Raymond Poulidor, cycling legend who holds the record for podiums on the Grande Boucle.
During the Tour de France 2021 where “my little phenomenon” as his grandfather nicknamed him won the second stage in Mûr-de-Bretagne, winning the yellow jersey at the same time, Mathieu van der Poel’s first thought was for his grandfather who died in November 2019: “The emotion came when I was told with 100% certainty that I had the yellow jersey. It was obviously a very strong moment. I imagine how proud he would be , it’s really a shame he’s not here but there’s nothing we can do about it. My mother arrived today (during the second stage – NDR) on the Tour, I think I waited for the right one day.”
Between 2015 and 2020, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert shared the world titles in cyclo-cross before facing each other on the road. Some compare this rivalry with others like Tom Boonen – Fabian Cancellara.
Since the start of his professional career, Mathieu van der Poel has known four teams so far: BKCP-Powerplus (2014-2015), BKCP-Corendon (2015-2016), Beobank-Corendon (2016-2017), Corendon- Circus (2018-2019) and Alpecin-Fenix ??since 2020 where the Dutchman extended until 2025.
Who is Mathieu van der Poel’s girlfriend?
On the private side, Mathieu van der Poel is in a relationship with influencer and fashion blogger Roxanne Bertels.
