The Spanish cafeteria that Mathieu van der Poel has turned into one of his favorite spots

One of the great stars of cycling, Mathieu van der Poel, is in love with Spain and its Mediterranean coast. In fact, it's in Alicante where you'd find one of the Dutchman's most favorite places.

More specifically, this place is a cafeteria in Jalón, Alicante. The place is called "Velosol", and it belongs to a Belgian family. There, when the Alpecin-Deceuninck star wants to have a coffee after one of his many training rides along the Costa Blanca, he parks his bike to hang out.

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Thanks to Wieler Revue we have been able to learn more about this family that makes Mathieu van der Poel's days in Alicante more enjoyable. The owners of the café are of Flemish origin. The De Roock-Leroie founded the Velosol cycling café 8 years ago, very close to the mythical Coll de Rates.

The cafeteria is surrounded by walls. From the outside, only the wheel on the fence lets the public know it has anything to do with cycling. In fact, in addition to Van der Poel, the Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel is also a frequent visitor at Velosol.

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Linda, the owner of the café, reveals a very interesting story about van der Poel and Evenepoel: "In the summer of 2022, Mathieu and Remco came over for a pancake and talked about the Vuelta and whether Remco would be able to win it. Then we said that if he won the Vuelta we would paint the outside walls of our café red. We did."

Both Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel are recovering from their respective injuries. The former is very close to returning to cyclo-cross competition. The main goal remains that historic seventh world championship title. The Belgian, on the other hand, still has a long rehabilitation process ahead of him after crashing into a van last December.

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