Cycling: Mathieu van der Poel, the phenomenon, big favorite of Milan-San Remo
Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel during the Tour of Flanders on April 7, 2019. Belga / AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
5 mins
The season of the great cycling classics will start in earnest with the Milan-San Remo, on Saturday March 20, 2021. The Dutchman of the Belgian team Alpecin-Fenix, Mathieu Van der Poel, 13th last year for his first participation, is eagerly awaited .
Publicity
Read more
“
I drew so much into my limits, I just tried to cross the finish line, I was completely drained
.
[…]
My pride is to have been to the end.
»Sunday March 14, on the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy, Mathieu van der Poel still amazed his world by attacking alone 70 kilometers from the finish.
While the weather conditions were extremely difficult, he was able to resist the return of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, winner of the last Tour de France, in the very last hectometers of the race.
Mathieu Van der Poel seems ready for
Milan - San Remo
.
A true phenomenon in cyclo-cross - he has been world champion four times (2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021) - Mathieu van der Poel has become a terror on the road in the space of two seasons.
The results were not long in coming.
Road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking, everything suits him!
Here he is already the winner of three major races on the world calendar with the Amstel Gold Race (2019) and the Strade Bianche (2021).
In 2020, he entered the big leagues by continuing the incredible family saga with his victory on the legendary Tour of Flanders.
Because this versatile rider, who has achieved the performance of winning the national title in the Netherlands in all three disciplines (road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking), is none other than the son of Adrie van der Poel, six-time champion of the Netherlands and cyclo-cross world champion in 1996, who also won two stages on the Tour de France and several classics including the 1986 Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 1988 and the Amstel Gold Race 1990, at during his career.
And her mother is the daughter of
Raymond Poulidor
, a very popular French cyclist, who died in 2019, record holder for the number of podiums in the Tour de France (eight) and winner in particular of the Tour of Spain 1964.
Mathieu van der Poel has always been immersed in the world of the little queen, even if he started with football before choosing the family sport he has in his blood.
His older brother David also opted for the bicycle.
Extremely skilful on his machine, Mathieu Van der Poel began to make a name for himself in 2011 by winning the titles of Dutch, European and World cyclo-cross champion in the Junior category.
"
I run with the pros as I did with the youngsters: on the attack,
" repeats over and over again the one who always cultivates a taste for the offensive.
For his first participation in the Tour of Flanders in 2019, he finished at the foot of the podium.
The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, world cyclo-cross champion, on January 31, 2021 in Ostend.
BAS CZERWINSKI BELGA / AFP
Paris-Roubaix, another great race within its reach?
"
We never pushed Mathieu to make choices
," explained his father Adrie Van der Poel in the columns of
L'Équipe
.
I'm even convinced that it's less difficult mentally to ride on three different terrains, it helps to avoid weariness.
It does not have the same approach at all on the three specialties.
For him, cyclo-cross is fun;
mountain biking is ecstasy, and the road is the importance of the prize list.
"
From now on, we expect the young prodigy on
Paris-Roubaix
on April 11.
A race compatible with the qualities of a cyclo-crossman.
In 2020, van der Poel was to do his baptism in "The Hell of the North", unfortunately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With his power acquired in cyclo-cross, the Dutchman should fly on the cobbles.
At 26, Mathieu van der Poel seems to have all the cards in hand to become a great classic hunter.
Milan - San Remo, Tour des Flandres, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Tour de Lombardie, the five monuments all seem accessible to this gifted person.
He could join Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merxck, the only runners in history to have achieved the feat of winning the five most prestigious one-day races.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Cycling
Netherlands