Mathieu van der Poel back in rainbow

Last month, Mathieu van der Poel saw his world road race title slip away to Tadej Pogacar, as the Slovenian superstar dominated the race with a breath taking 100 km solo attack to claim the rainbow jersey and complete the coveted triple crown. However, van der Poel didn’t stay out of the rainbow for long. Just a week after that defeat, the Dutchman stormed to victory at the Gravel World Championships in Leuven, securing his first gravel rainbow jersey and adding yet another prestigious title to his already illustrious career.

This win marks van der Poel’s eighth overall world title, six in cyclocross, one on the road, and now one in gravel.

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Freddy Ovett, an Australian road and gravel rider and a close friend of van der Poel, shared an image of him training on gravel roads, proudly sporting the rainbow stripes once again. Ovett, 30, celebrated his friend's latest achievement by showing off his familiar presence in the rainbow jersey, reminding fans of van der Poel’s unparalleled versatility.

On social media, we’ve seen van der Poel back in his regular Alpecin-Deceuninck cycling kit during training on the road, but fans can expect to see him in the rainbow stripes once again if he returns to cyclocross this winter. As the reigning world champion in both gravel and cyclocross, he’s entitled to wear the iconic jersey in both disciplines.

Had the gravel world championships taken place before the road worlds in Zurich, van der Poel would have held all three rainbow jerseys at the same time — a feat that would have been unprecedented.