Mathieu van der Poel enjoys rivalry with van Aert and Pogacar: " They make me work harder to achieve results"

Mathieu van der Poel has recently signed a long-term contract with the Canyon bike brand, with whom he's won almost unheard of amounts of races within pro cycling. He's taken the opportunity to answer questions regarding his biggest rivals, cyclocross, the Olympic Games and the current aggressive style of racing in the peloton.

"I was one of the first who started it. Not anymore. The harder the race, the better for me. People enjoy cycling more now," van der Poel said in an interview with Canyon. He believes that in recent years, he's helped kickstart the current trend of long-range attacks in the classics. His triumph at the 2019 Amstel Gold Race was specially important for him: "Viewers could have already missed a decisive move 100 kilometers from the finish. We race from kilometer zero. I like that. All victories mean a lot, but winning in the national jersey of the Netherlands back then, during my breakthrough, was really huge."

Van der Poel is one of the riders who does it the most, but he's now joined by other big figures of the sport, that seem to stretch the idea of what's possible in modern pro cycling further and further away from what it used to be. Tadej Pogacar's 81-kilometer solo win at Strade Bianche being a good example. After another successful cyclocross season, van der Poel has begun his stint on the road at Milano-Sanremo, and will now race the E3 Saxo Classic ahead of the cobbled monuments.

"Racing on cobbles is fun, but other than that, I don't like it. I never train on cobbles. I used to get nervous, now I mainly put pressure on myself and go into races relaxed. I sleep well and am not bothered by rivals," he says. "Everyone knows the rivalry between myself and Wout van Aert, and we see Tadej Pogacar getting better in the classics. Those rivalries are good for me. They make me work harder to achieve results for myself."

Certainly this was the case last year, where the Dutchman achieved consistency that he had never before. He won the cyclocross and road World Championships, Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix. This continues to this day, with his move to Spain being a big part of why he's avoided illnesses - with the lack of injuries also helping his performance.

In Cyclocross he's won his sixth world title and is fast approaching the seven titles of Erik De Vlaeminck. "I don't necessarily want to break the record. But I want to get the best out of myself. You are remembered for what you have achieved. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of me in cyclo-cross," he promises, despite having over the past months sometimes spoken about the possibility of missing out on a winter's racing.

This is another key year for van der Poel, with two rainbow jerseys on his chest but also the Olympic Games where he will race on the road and Mountain Bike. A big favourite for the first, but he wants to also win in the second - but that is a much more complicated task. Van der Poel raced there in Tokyo 2021 but had a catastrophic crash that put him out. At the MTB World Championships last season he once again crashed out.

"It will be a tricky puzzle in the summer. I don’t yet know how it will turn out. I want to combine mountain biking and road cycling, he admits, likely with a DNF at the Tour de France planned after the first week. "But I don't want to spoil one by insisting on doing both. I want to start at my best in both."