UCI WorldTour: MVDP, a winner like very few in history

Winner of Paris-Roubaix after conquering Milano-Sanremo, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joins Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986) and John Degenkolb (2015) in the history books. Add in his cyclo-cross successes at the beginning of the year, and we’re witnessing a unique string of results.

Mathieu Van der Poel has been earning his way into cycling history for quite some time now. The 28-year-old Orange star came to the sport with the prestigious family history of his father Adrie Van der Poel and his grandfather Raymond Poulidor. He quickly rose to glory on the cyclo-cross circuits and went on to claim spectacular and iconic conquests on the road. Still, in 2023, he finds new ways to further write history with an extraordinary campaign that most recently saw him tame Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, after an epic race over the cobblestones of the Hell of the North.

“I’ve done my best Classics campaign ever,” said the Flying Dutchman in the Roubaix velodrome. Alpecin-Deceuninck’s leader may have only won two races, as many as Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) with his historic double in Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields and Dwars door Vlaanderen, but MVDP’s triumphs hold a historic weight even greater than the cobble trophy he raised as a winner.

His conquest of Roubaix comes three weeks after he flew to victory up and down the Poggio - clear of television motorbikes in the descent for the first time to ensure safety and sporting fairness - in Milano-Sanremo. Already a two-time winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen (2020, 2022), Van der Poel extends his realm. He has now found victory in three different Monuments, with a total of four successes in these prestigious events of the UCI WorldTour. He thus reaches the bar raised a week earlier by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in Flanders. No active rider matches their record in the Monuments.

“One of my best days ever”

Winning two Monuments in the same year is an impressive feat but a strong cast of champions have managed to do so over the years, from Belgium’s Cyrille Van Hauwaert in 1908 to Pogačar in 2021. But MVDP made his triumphs extra special by claiming them in the most open Monuments, renowned for their treacherous scenarios that often trick the favourites. Before him only three riders had managed to win Sanremo and Roubaix in the same year: Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986) and John Degenkolb (2015).

“It’s the easiest Monument to ride but the most difficult to win,” Van der Poel said in Sanremo, adding that “you don’t always win if you’re the strongest, so that makes it really special to win”.

In the Hell of the North, he was among the strongest in 2021 (3rd) and 2022 (9th). And this Sunday, “I had one of my best days ever on the bike,” he said after a solo victory that shattered the record for the fastest ever Paris-Roubaix: 257km covered at 46.841km/h (the previous record was set the year before by Dylan van Baarle, at 45.792km/h).

His ride in Milano-Sanremo was also the second fastest in the history of the event (45.773km/h, marginally slower than the 1990 edition, covered at 45.806km/h). It should be noted that the Ronde van Vlaanderen was also the fastest ever, and Van der Poel finished only 16’’ behind Pogačar.

“I’m definitely stronger now”

“I’ve changed some things in my training and my programme, and I feel I have improved,” the Dutchman reflects. “I asked myself to do less races in order to be at my 100% in every race I do. What I did in Flanders, and today, I couldn’t do in the previous years – so I’m definitely stronger now.” And he feels at his best when the racing is all out: “We raced full-on, like juniors, from start to finish. I enjoyed riding like that, even if it is strange. This way of racing suits me – the harder the race, the better for me.”

The current trend of aggressive tactics has allowed MVDP to claim historic successes this spring on the road, following his fifth UCI Elite Cyclo-cross World Champion title, at home in Hoogerheide.

Nobody had ever managed such an extraordinary series of demonstrations of prowess. And Van der Poel eyes more opportunities to make his 2023 campaign an even more historic one, not least the Tour de France after a short break and an anticipated return to competition at the Tour de Suisse.