Are Mathieu van der Poel's unusual performances a worry for World Championships? - Dutch rider endures underwhelming two days just a week before Montreal
CyclingSaturday, 19 September 2026 at 20:00
Mathieu van der Poel is just over a week away from leading the Dutch team at the World Championships elite men's road race, yet an unusual showing has left some lingering questions about what fans can expect from him in Canada.
The Alpecin rider will front the Netherlands' challenge in Montreal, and without Tadej Pogacar at the race, it's expected to be the most open and unpredictable race since he himself won the rainbow jersey at the Glasgow World Championships in 2023.
At that race, van der Poel demonstrated his usual attacking instincts to break away from a leading group and leave Pogacar, Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert among others in his wake to win gold. However, one performance at the Tour de Luxembourg raised some eyebrows just over a week out from the big race.
This time, van der Poel didn't show his usual instinctive approach to stage 3, missing out on racing for the win as well as seemingly not attempting to attack a finale tailor-made to his credentials.
Mathieu van der Poel
Van der Poel's quiet display on stage 3
Stage 3 of the Tour de Luxembourg offered two finish circuit laps with three short and sharp climbs, seemingly teeing up the Dutchman to unleash an attacking final 28 kilometres. However, it wasn't him that attacked.
Davide Piganzoli made the day's most impressive move, bridging 2:30 on the finish circuit to the day's breakaway - which was stacked with dangerous riders for the overall classification.
Van der Poel previously expressed his desire to compete for the leader's jersey, but as Piganzoli launched his move, van der Poel didn't initially respond to the move. Although showing small signs of initiative before the circuit hit proper, the 31-year-old appeared unusually quiet throughout the finale.
After missing Piganzoli's move, the Alpecin rider appeared to throw in the towel as the remainder of the peloton lost minutes to the attackers, and the overall classification seemingly slipped away from the Dutchman.
His subdued performance lends to questions around whether it was a challenging race situation that led to the performance, or whether there were other physical factors that led to it. With the World Championships now just a week away, any illness or injuries could seriously jeopardise his chances in Canada.
First stage win but time trial offers little to shout about
The surprise performance is further compounded by his eventful opening two stages. On stage one, van der Poel attacked from the bunch and ultimately sprinted to a win after getting caught by the chasers.
In the leader's jersey on stage 2, he came close to victory in a reduced bunch sprint, but missed out as Marijn van den Berg's resilient sprint in an attritional rush to the line.
At the time trial, it again appeared as though he wasn't at his best. On his day, van der Poel can compete with the best in the world against the clock, and reminded the cycling world of that as he almost beat Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de Suisse in June.
However, this time around it was clear that van der Poel wouldn't be competing for the win. He ultimately finished 61st on the stage and 2:44 off the lead.
After a surprising stage 3 and an underwhelming stage 4 time trial, the Dutchman faces a significant final day in Luxembourg just a week out from the rainbow jersey race.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- This is an informative article, but some of the sentences are very hard to read in English. The following is an example: "Although only one month remains to the season, some meaningful moves are still yet to be made in the market. Some are a matter of time to be made public, but new potential transfers have been rumoured over the past week. Daniel Benson, Ciro Scognamiglio, Wielerflits, Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad often contribute towards a hub of market activity that creates a clear picture. The previous has reported on three potential signings for the American Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team: Australian national champion Pattrick Eddy; Josh Burnett and Owen Cole." Just get a native speaker or, if that is too expensive, an AI to translate/correct them for you.SuperConfexYokoOno20-09-2026
- I should have guess Mr shoot his mouth off and no research would comment without knowing. Yes on any given year there are 75-100 countries that participate in the world championships. Which is why I said 80. So they’re really good when comparing to all 80. Not as impressive on this list. If you don’t understand how percentages work, and don’t want to do the research, LMK. I’ll explain it for you.mij19-09-2026
- Why should you check about who someone actually is before making comments based on their looks alone? Really??? That’s your excuse? So do you also look at pictures of Black people and make assumptions on looks alone? Who are you to say it is easy money to have one’s picture taken? How many photo shoots have you done? Note to you I’ve been in them. Not for me. But it is grueling for everyone. And of course you have nothing to say about the many other positive attributes of her. You judge on looks alone and use your morals to castigate her. You’re pathetic.mij19-09-2026
- Couldn’t agree more. Demi frequently uses her platform to promote good, thinking back to all the moments she’s raised mental health awareness, eating disorders, inspiring the younger generations to ‘dream’, and now (as she has done many times before) advocating for women’s sport. I’m relieved to see a few members on this forum agree with her, but am slightly concerned by the few users who clearly don’t; some users who I didn’t expect to have such narrow-minded opinions.anonymouscyclist19-09-2026
- Oh dear... we all knew what would happen when Mou got news of it... 3 days later
Rafionain-Glas19-09-2026 - 0:02.5 is 2.5 seconds, not 0.02Rafionain-Glas19-09-2026
- 80 huh? I don’t know how many are in the all- time list and I don’t even know what this list actually represents because it doesn’t correspond to well-labelled ones that include a description of what is or is not included (which would be a more interesting discussion than this one) but I can tell you on the modern list of SENIOR (ie no U23 or other categories) road racing champs there are already 38 different current countries (I specify specifically because if you start considering East/West Germany, Soviet Union, Che/Slo, Balkanisation, etc. things get messy).Mistermaumau19-09-2026
- Sydney Sweeney’s viral nude sports advert is good for womens sport overall. The “Just Sports” campaign, which features Sweeney nude while covering herself with various pieces of sporting equipment could also be good for cycling if Sweeney was naked on a road racing bike. There are quite a few women cyclists thar are just beautiful. Demi said: “For a long time, women have fought to be seen for what they can do, not for how they look.” ... Women should be saying: "We will fight for what we can do, and for how we look." There is nothing nicer than a high class professional female athlete with a beautiful body and a beautiful face. Just take a look at womens beach volleyball... or 100-meter and 200-meter runners... or womens long-jump... or womens gymnastics. I never watch men in these sports. Ad acta.PogiSloFans19-09-2026
- Racing road bikes is a dangerous sport, I've almost lost my life twice doing it. This was a complete tragedy, it shouldn't have happened. The driver of the van was told by spectators the race had passed, which it hadn't at that point as the broom wagon was still behind. For the UCI's part, they are about to implement a gps tracking system so every rider is accounted for within a given race, it probably won't happen until next year or maybe even the year after but it's coming.awp19-09-2026
- Why should I check? If you stoop to such a level with intact intellect you need a bloody good reason. Even Walter White didn’t have good enough reasons for selling out. Comparing and equating someone who uses their body to reach the peak of athleticism with someone who (with a lot of photographic work) shows off their body in order to make easy money? Sorry, you may have good intentions but that’s really warped. Next you’ll be telling women (and girls) they’re lucky they can earn money (and far more than men , for once) this way because there’s a demand, either real or supposed, from a mainly male audience.Mistermaumau19-09-2026
Loading
Write a comment