No man is an island, but Mathieu van der Poel has long inhabited a peninsula that allows him to live cycling on his own terms. He races where he wants, when he wants, and as he wants.
The world champion’s preparation for the Tour of Flanders has been a case in point. While oceans of ink were poured into outlining the why and wherefores of the unfortunate Wout van Aert’s untraditional build-up to the Ronde, Van der Poel’s far lighter race schedule scarcely warranted a second glance or a whiff of questioning.
After annexing a sixth cyclocross world title in February, the Dutchman delayed the start of his road season until Milan-San Remo, but there was no sign of rustiness as he piloted Jasper Philipsen to victory with a man-of-the-match performance.
A week later, he cruised to a solo victory at the E3 Saxo Classic and then produced an all-action display to place second at Gent-Wevelgem.
Even before the crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen that ended Van Aert’s spring, Van der Poel was the clear favourite for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.
Even in this era of polarised training and race peaking, nobody gets up to full speed from a standing start quite like the current world champion.
“He’s able to train very well on the level he’s supposed to train on,” Alpecin-Deceuninck manager Christoph Roodhooft told Cyclingnews this week.
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“In the past, people always thought that riders needed races, but nowadays they are so far advanced with training approaches and everything. We know exactly what’s needed to reach the highest level possible.”
Van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck
Van der Poel has been with Christoph and Philip Roodhooft for his entire senior career, having previously raced for the affiliated junior outfit, and there was little surprise when he recently agreed a new contract that will keep him on board until the end of 2028 and so probably the end of his professional career.
There might have been greater riches on offer elsewhere, but it was difficult to imagine Van der Poel opting for a change of environment. The entire ecosystem of his current team has been growing with him since he was a teenager, nourishing his aspirations in road, cyclocross and mountain bike. All along, his father Adrie has served as an informal advisor to the team.
“I’m of course very happy that he’s staying with us,” Christoph Roodhooft said.
“But we also wanted him to have a good feeling about the environment he had to work in and live in. Money is a certain percentage of it, but we are happier that he now stays with us with 100% commitment as well. Money is important, of course, and the money is in the range – but we’re happy that the total package is the thing that made him most happy.”
Van der Poel has always enjoyed a tailor made package at the Roodhoofts’ team, whose scope grew in tandem with his ambitions. A decade ago, when Van der Poel limited himself primarily to the cyclocross circuit, the team operated at Continental level under the BKCP-Powerplus banner.
In the summer of 2018, when Van der Poel voiced his desire to pursue a career on the road, the Roodhoofts realised they had to move with him. A Professional Continental licence was procured for the following season. Since then, the team around Van der Poel has continued to evolve and grow in size and success but his status at the centre of their firmament has remained unchanged, and so, too, it seems, has his mindset.
“The only change is that he went from being a teenager to an adult, that’s all that’s changed,” Roodhooft said.
“The team grew, of course, and it was an adaptation for him and an adaptation for us. It went fast, but it still went day by day, and I think that’s why it felt natural for both of us.”
In sport, the relationship between athlete and manager often become more complex as the years go by and circumstances change, but Van der Poel and the Roodhoofts have always presented a united front, most notably during the lows along the way, such as his arrest on the eve of the 2022 Worlds in Wollongong.
It probably helps that Van der Poel enjoys an autonomy afforded to few other riders. Despite the rainbow jersey on his back and the Belgian sponsor across his chest, for instance, Van der Poel is avoiding the media spotlight ahead of the Ronde. The team left the decision up to the rider himself, and he preferred not to speak.
“Of course, when there are negotiations going on, it’s a bit more difficult, which is normal, but on a personal level, there was never really a difficult moment with Mathieu,” Roodhooft said.
“We’ve always been together. That was my feeling and I think he felt a bit the same.
“We were together in Australia, we were together when he had his back problems, we were together when he had the crash in Tokyo. We’ve been through a lot together and we tried to help each other as much as possible. Of course, he’s getting older, but it still feels like a good relationship. We rely on each other.”
Van der Poel targets a third Tour of Flanders and fifth Monument of his career
On Sunday, Van der Poel will aim to claim a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders and fifth Monument of his career.
With 2023 Tour of Flanders winner Tadej Pogacar and the injured Van Aert both absentees, anything other than a Van der Poel victory in Oudenaarde will be classed as the biggest Ronde upset since Nick Nuyens denied Fabian Cancellara in 2011.
The burden of favourite is one that Van der Poel will wear lightly, much like his rainbow jersey.
Already a superstar since his youth, he was better equipped than most world champions in history for the pressures and responsibilities of his new title.
“He was already five times world champion in cyclocross. That was his world and that was big already,” Roodhooft said.
“So in the end, it changes more for the outside than it does for ourselves.”
It remains to be seen how much Van Aert’s absence will alter the substance of this Ronde.
Visma-Lease A Bike might ordinarily have been an ally of circumstance in controlling the race early on. Now, the onus falls squarely upon Van der Poel and his team, which will include Jasper Philipsen, Søren Kragh Andersen, Silvan Dillier and Gianni Vermeersch, woh has recovered after being involved in the Dwars door Vlaanderen crash.
“What Mathieu expects from us, we can deliver for sure on Sunday with the team we have,” Roodhooft said. “I’m not afraid, not at all.”
Van der Poel was left relatively isolated after the Taaienberg at E3 Harelbeke but then he didn’t need much help during the virtuoso display that followed.
Two days later Alpecin-Deceuninck opted to hand Van der Poel the chance to do it alone all over again at Gent-Wevelgem rather than holding him back to ride for Philipsen.
Even though Van der Poel was ultimately beaten by Mads Pedersen, Roodhooft placed little truck in the benefit of hindsight. With a talent like Van der Poel, the normal rules don’t apply. They’ve known that since he was a teenager. Even his defeats seem to hit differently.
“For most teams, the logical approach would have been to wait and to go with Jasper,” he said. “But we cannot do that with the world champion, and especially when it’s Mathieu van der Poel.”
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