Dutch professional cyclist Mathieu van der Poel is tipped to be one of the athletes to watch this year at the upcoming Paris Olympics. He is known for his abilities in the sport’s road racing, mountain biking, and cyclo-cross disciplines.
Here is a closer look at the 29-year-old cyclists’ chance of winning a gold medal at Paris 2024.
Who is Mathieu van der Poel?
Mathieu van der Poel is a 29-year-old men’s professional cyclist who was born in Kapellen, Belgium, in January 1995. He’s also known as The Flying Dutchman or M.V.D.P. and comes from a family of cyclists.
He rides for the U.C.I. World Team Alpecin–Deceuninck, and throughout his career, has achieved so much, winning numerous coveted international titles at both junior and senior levels.
Some of his most significant wins are the following:
Mountain Bike:
- National XC Championships
- European XC Championships
Cyclo-Cross:
- World Championships
- V.V. Trophy
- National Championships
- European Championships
- Superprestige
- World Cup
Road:
- Stage races – Tour of Britain, Tour of Belgium, and Binckbank Tour
- Giro d’Italia – Combativity award, and 1 individual stage
- Tour de France – 1 individual stage
- One-day races and Classics – Paris-Roubaix, World Road Race Championship, Tour of Flanders, Milan-San Remo, and many others
He has won 8 gold medals (a mix of junior and elite) at the Cyclo-Cross World Championships, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals. At the European Championships, he has won 5 golds and 2 silvers.
He has also won 2 golds at the men’s road cycling World Championships, 1 silver at the European Championships, and at the men’s mountain bike racing World Championships, he has won 1 bronze.
Will Mathieu van der Poel win the Paris 2024 men’s road race?
The quickest, easiest, and most reliable way to find out if Mathieu van der Poel can win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics is to check Olympic cycling betting odds for Paris 2024 that are currently being offered by today’s most trusted Indian online bookmaker – the official 10cricbet sports betting site.
The betting markets for some of the upcoming Paris Olympics sporting events, including the men’s Road Race, are already open. It’s good news for van der Poel. He’s the current odds-on favourite to win this event and take home the gold medal.
Let’s take a closer look at the latest odds in all three formats, decimal, fractional, and American/moneyline, and then also reveal the I.P.R. (implied probability rate) for each racer to win gold in the men’s Road Race event, which is scheduled to take place on August 3:
- Bet type: Road Race – Men (Paris 2024) outright winner. Rider: Mathieu van der Poel (odds-on favourite). Current odds: 4.00 (decimal), 3/1 (fractional), +300 (American/moneyline). Implied probability rate (I.P.R.): 25.00%
- Bet type: Road Race – Men (Paris 2024) outright winner. Rider: Tadej Pogacar (second odds-on favourite). Current odds: 5.50 (decimal), 9/2 (fractional), +450 (American/moneyline). I.P.R.: 18.20%
- Bet type: Road Race – Men (Paris 2024) outright winner. Rider: Remco Evenpoel (third joint-odds-on favourite). Current odds: 7.50 (decimal), 13/2 (fractional), +650 (American/moneyline). I.P.R.: 13.30%
- Bet type: Road Race – Men (Paris 2024) outright winner. Rider: Wout Van Aert (third joint-odds-on favourite). Current odds: 7.50 (decimal), 13/2 (fractional), +650 (American/moneyline). I.P.R.: 13.30%
Some of the other riders include Mads Pedersen, Jhonatan Narvaez, Michael Matthews, and Thomas Pidcock.
While some people believe that Mathieu van der Poel can set a new world record by winning gold medals in both cycling disciplines, others are less convinced and say that he should have focused on one cycling event, not both.
What other awards has Mathieu van der Poel won throughout his career?
In 2013, Mathieu van der Poel won the Gerrie Knetemann Trophy – Dutch Young Cyclist of the Year, and the NOC*NSF Young Talent Award. From there, he went on to win many other personal awards and honours.
He won the Flandrien of the Cyclo-cross on three separate occasions (2015, 2017, and 2018) and the Koning Winter – Best Cyclo-cross Rider of the Year award on four occasions (2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019).
He has also won the Dutch Mountain Biker of the Year award (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021) and the Gerrit Schulte Trophy – Dutch Cyclist of the Year in 2019, 2020, and 2023.
In 2019 and 2023, he won the Jaap Eden Award – Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 2019 and 2023. In the same year, 2023, he won the Eddy Merckx Trophy – Best Classics Rider of the Year, the International Flandrien of the Year award, and second place in the Vélo d’Or.
What other events will be worth watching at Paris 2024?
Some of the most exciting events at the 2024 Paris Olympics that most sports fans will also be tuning in for are in major disciplines, such as Football (Soccer), Taekwondo, Shooting, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Athletics, and Equestrian.
Other hotly anticipated events are Table Tennis, Badminton, Swimming, and Volleyball. That’s not forgetting Badminton, Triathlon, Archery, Judo, Surfing, Modern Pentathlon, Aquatics, Golf, Canoeing, Basketball, Skateboarding, Breaking, Weightlifting, Boxing, and Tennis, to name a few.
Final note
The summer Olympics this year will get underway with the opening ceremony on July 26 at the Jardins du Trocadéro and the Seine, and the closing ceremony will be at the Stade de France on August 11.
Up to 10,500 athletes are expected to participate this year, and there will be 329 individual events across 32 sports.
If Mathieu van der Poel can win gold, it will be a great achievements at any Summer Olympic event in modern times.
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