After taking an extended break, Mathieu van der Poel is now back in full training ahead of his cyclocross season. The Dutch world champion, who wrapped up his 2025 campaign after the Mountain Bike World Championships in mid-September, has not limited himself to cycling.
Recently, Van der Poel joined Greg Van Avermaet for a morning swim session, an unusual training crossover between two icons of different eras. The Belgian Olympic champion from Rio 2016 is preparing for the Triathlon World Championships in Marbella this coming Sunday, and Van der Poel decided to lend him company in the water.
“Morning swim. Getting Mathieu van der Poel into triathlon,” wrote Van Avermaet on Strava, suggesting he might be converting the Dutch superstar to his new discipline.
Van Avermaet, who retired from professional cycling in 2023, remains highly active in endurance sports. According to his Strava post, the 40-year-old Belgian swam two kilometers in about forty minutes during the session.
Even without a race number pinned on, the former Olympic gold medallist still competes regularly. This year, Van Avermaet has participated in several gravel races, including the World Championships in South Limburg, where he finished in an impressive fifth position.
Will Van der Poel ever try triathlon?
While Van der Poel does not seem to have immediate plans to compete in a triathlon, he has long hinted that it’s on his bucket list. Two years ago, in a video with popular YouTuber Average Rob (Robert Van Impe), the Alpecin–Deceuninck rider made a promise: if the video reached 42,000 likes, he would one day take part in a full Ironman.
Average Rob also revealed some time ago on Play Sports’ LAMBERT & ALBERT podcast that Van der Poel had already considered entering a half Ironman (a specific type of triathlon) in Portugal. “Mathieu had almost taken part in a half Ironman in Portugal,” said Average Rob. “He was really looking into it, but for a professional cyclist, it’s simply impossible to fit into his schedule.”
He added that the Dutch rider remains serious about the idea, although not in the near future. “That’s impossible. He has promised to do a full Ironman with us one day, but I think that’s something for four, five, six, or ten years from now, after his cycling career is over. Or maybe when he’s in a quieter phase and wants to use it as training.”
Van Impe also praised Van der Poel’s natural athleticism. “He can apparently swim much better than people think. He’s a guy who can do everything well. A phenomenon.”
Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
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- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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