Mathieu van der Poel named Netherlands' Cyclist of the Year for the fourth time
CyclingTuesday, 22 October 2024 at 09:00
At the age of 29, Mathieu van der Poel has been named Dutch Cyclist of the Year for the fourth time in his career. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider remains at the top of the Dutch sport thanks to his cobbles double (Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix) and Gravel world title.
Although he will not win the Velo d'Or award, which is reserved for Tadej Pogacar who has completed the best year in the history of cycling, van der Poel's season is still worthy of recognition, and in his home country they did not want to miss the opportunity to award him for it, as reported by Wielerflits.
In fact, in the conversation to decide who has been the second best rider of the year overall, Mathieu van der Poel can fight a sensational Remco Evenepoel for the title. In the first half of the season, the Dutchman was unbeatable, and at the World Championships he finished ahead of the younger Belgian.
Van der Poel took victory in 2 monuments, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, both with overwhelming superiority, after handing teammate Jasper Philipsen the biggest win of his career at Milano-Sanremo.
In addition, as already mentioned, although he was unable to retain the world champion's jersey, Mathieu van der Poel came third at the Zurich World Championships, winning the reduced sprint for a meritorious bronze medal. Only Pogacar and Ben O'Connor were ahead of him.
Looking forward to an equally good 2025
As of today, the Dutch rider seems to be the only one who can stand up to Tadej Pogacar in the major classics on the calendar. In the 2025 season, van der Poel is aiming to be one of the big stars of the peloton again, and after that a more than possible 5th Dutch Cyclist of the Year title.
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- I see. From a different perspective, all people are equal. If I was standing beside a cycling "star" and a cycling "public" person, there would be no preference of attention given to one or the other. I appreciate the pro cyclist performances equally with others.itsent29-01-2026
- Mm's comment was nonsensical, thus I offered a nonsensical reply. Nonetheless, the logic tracks. Barriers are not at the zoo to keep "normal public" away from the animals. If they wished to do that, the zoo would just close and release the animals back to their natural habitats. The zoo is there for the public. Similarly, pro cycling exists to entertain the public for the purpose of marketing and entertainment.itsent29-01-2026
- The problem IS Instagram/YouTubers who make these videos; other than the guy in question, theirs an/other guy who lives in Majorca and follows Pro's around.. it's this Pretence' that's caused/ing this problem, Spectacle of the 'super-star' professional riders, in recent yrs also, an upped media awareness and scoping, strangely since Eurosport sport got sold, to the Americans.. + media reporting of Pro even farting is getting airtime, yes it's that stupid, now! It's hard to even read, that style of reporting. Like back in the day, you'd know a rider is training for the coming season, yet now I even know what Pogacar has been, it's just too much now, I'm tiring of this much media attention, no wonder a UK pro scrapped the sport suddenly... the media interest is just TOO MUCH
leedorney28-01-2026 - Personally, I speak to the other end of the leash before approaching. As for barriers, by my logic the exact reason they are there is to STOP normal public approach so please clarify your logic.Mistermaumau28-01-2026
- Don’t get itJumpyjohn28-01-2026
- The guy is working and the amateur should know that, maybe remember that next time someone at work gets a bit too close :-) Was it a technical descent coz I can keep up with just about any pro on a safe downhill thanks to some extra kg, besides from Strava data, it’s obvious pros are rarely pushing their max in training at this stage.Jumpyjohn28-01-2026
- Yates retired because Visma would not let him do the Giro because of Jonas Vingagaard. Plain and simple that's what happens when you become a rigid team like Visma.YJKauf1328-01-2026
- Ah, sorry. Ok, rewind. The first guy annoys JV who decides to “try to get rid of him” (which I doubt he’d do if he’d been asked coz then he would have had the chance to say no and that should have been it). The video (am not going to watch it unless someone tells me there are other important details not mentioned in the story) seems to show distance but this in no way describes the previous episode (at least it seems the guy didn’t pop out his phone while on JVs wheel, which isn’t unknown). I guess we can also safely assume if the distance had been 100-150 all the time, JV would never have noticed or been bothered. Now, though it’s not very clear, it sounds like both riders stopped, the annoyer carrying on before the 2nd guy came? But (and put yourself in the situation of someone who just crashed hard in the middle of nowhere), maybe JV imagines the 2nd rider might be associated with the 1st? It’s not like he would have paid much attention to the number and possible relationship between riders around him in what seems like quite a short period. Interesting though that both amateurs’ versions were so quick to make the rounds to media.Mistermaumau28-01-2026
- Also, this is a pro’s job, training on roads (especially those they will be racing on). Other multimillionaires also drive their cars on the public roads Joe uses and expect not to have hoards of fans driving in convoy behind. Only multibillionaires can almost escape that with private aircraft, not exactly what society should be aiming to emulate. Maybe they should ask for payrises to build their own racing tracks?Mistermaumau28-01-2026
- By your rationale, people should also not be allowed to get close to the animal pen railings at zoos, or to approach a dog on a leash.itsent28-01-2026
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