Mathieu van der Poel's brother returns to the world of cycling as a rider agent

David van der Poel ended his active career last October. Afterwards, he planned to find a job in the world outside of cycling. However at early 2024, family friend Jean Guinée offered the older of Van der Poel brothers to stay within the cycling world as along with two other partners, they found the company Sportsflow, which claims to go beyond a regular rider agency.

Interestingly, Mathieu van der Poel's brother never had an agent himself, with Guinée only assisting with an advice. "That is why I never thought about it specifically, that option never occurred to me," he admits to WielerFlits. "I myself did not need it either. There was always a good relationship with the brothers Christoph and Philip Roodhooft. I have always felt that I was in the right place, with good guidance. However, I have noticed for a few months now that I could have been helped with a number of matters outside my contract. Being a rider agent is much more than conducting contract negotiations."

Because David van der Poel lives in Belgium, he applied for and received his license from Belgian Cycling. Mainly for practical reasons, because Sportsflow is also located in Belgium. In the meantime, six athletes are part of the company, including Mathieu van der Poel and Arnaud De Lie.

David enthusiastically explains what they can do for athletes with Sportsflow. "The word we like to use ourselves is unburdening. That is as broad and as deep as the athlete wants it to be. They can come to us with everything they need. That can be very diverse. The most obvious is contract negotiations with the teams. But it can also be, for example, that an athlete wants to buy a house, but doesn't know anything about it. Then we will find that out for that person."

David van der Poel himself has now found a purpose for the rest of his career. "It is a very nice project that we have started. Of course, you never know what the future will bring. But if we did not have the idea that there was room for Sportsflow and that we could do that in a good way, then we would of course not have started it."