Mathieu van der Poel won a brilliant 21st stage of the Tour de France on Sunday after escaping with yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar on the final ascent of the Montmartre climb during the Paris final.

In an extraordinarily tense final, Van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took 12 seconds onto the Champs Elysées, leading a large group of chasers, including sprinters and their lead outs.

With their lead down to just five seconds inside the last kilometre, Pogačar was unable to maintain his effort, but Van der Poel forged on, winning the stage by a bike length form his team mate Jasper Philipsen. Green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was third.

With the GC times decided before the first of three longer laps up the Montmartre climb, which remained in the route after its debut last year, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) confirmed his fifth overall win at the Tour de France.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was second overall and Pogačar's team mate, Isaac Del surviving a poorly timed mechanical to take third and the best young rider classification.

Pogačar was never lower than fourth on GC, taking the yellow jersey on stage three, ceding it, then never relinquishing it after reclaiming the race lead on stage six. Not only that but he won five stages en route to a record equalling fifth overall win, again unarguably confirming him among the sport's greatest ever.

"It was an amazing day, I'm speechless," Pogačar said. "An incredible day an incredible atmosphere and happy that it's over and that we won for the fifth time. Every victory is very special, and it's seven Tours already and seven times on the podium, and five wins. It's something you wouldn't even write in a story book, it's unbelievable even for me.

"I don't know's a lot of factors," he said when asked how he did it. "The most important I think is that you enjoy what you're doing and you have good people around you, that you trust that they help and that they're there for you when you're on your lowest. Then you can build yourself and chase your dreams. And you have to set your goals always, need to now find a new goal after this," he concluded, though he refused to say what those dreams might be.

How it happened

After Sunday's final stage was shortened, the race was reduced from the scheduled 133km to just 89km, the start moved to the finish location on the Champs Elysées. Indeed, seven laps of the traditional 6.8km circuit comprised the opening of the race, before it headed for three of a longer circuit taking in the Montmartre climb seen in last year's Tour.

This final circuit had been tweaked from last year, when Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) won in the pouring rain, with the ride from the top of the climb to the line extended to 10.4km, the race returning to the Champs Elysées via the Arc de Triomphe. This changed the dynamic of the stage, the sprinters having a greater opportunity to get back on.

Without the traditional run into the city meant we saw none of the Champagne drinking celebratory photo opportunities, instead we got a couple of parade laps. First the jersey winners on the front, then those same riders and their teams and a series of ad hoc groups, the Danes, a couple of teams, the podium, no one really seemed to know when to start racing.

Before they did, organisers announced the general classification times would be decided before the first of the three Montmartre laps, with 41km remaining. Eventually Pogačar's UAE team gradually lifted the pace, before the attacks came as the third lap started, 75km to go.

After an aggressive lap, Baptiste Viestroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) was a few seconds off the front, and though the chase behind never let up, he held on until just after the intermediate sprint at the end of the fifth circuit.

On the approach to the start of the seventh lap Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Thibaut Guernalec (TotalEnergies) escaped, the pair building a lead of 50 seconds as they left the Champs Elysées for the first Montmartre lap. However, as they did so, the pace was up in the peloton.

A stretched peloton caught Guernalec and Azparren as they reached the top of the climb, green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) leading onto the descent, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogačar on his wheel.

A group of nine headed back to the Arc de Triomphe where they would rejoin the Champs Elysées, but much of the peloton had reformed by the time they got there. Despite the pace being knocked off at the front, a group which had detached off the back and included Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) were unable to get back on and they began the penultimate 16km lap a minute down.

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe led towards the base of the climb, but it was Tim Wellens who was first wheel as the road edged upwards, working for Pogačar, who made his move half way up the climb.

At the top only Van der Poel was on his wheel, though Evenepoel caught them soon after the top, while Pedersen got back on before they reached the Arc de Triomphe. However, with Decathlon-CMA CGM leading the chase the four leaders were unable to consolidate their advantage and were caught at the farthest end of the Champs Eylsées. Here UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek took control of the race, leading it across the line for the final lap.

Soudal Quick-Step made the pace as the climb approached for the final time, but the final ascent was less explosive, at least to start. Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) attacked early on, though the British champion was summarily dropped when Van der Poel made his move half way up, once again taking only Pogačar with him.

Though they took turns to maintain their lead, a group of six, including two from Visma-Lease a Bike were handful of seconds back, with a bigger group chasing them. By the time the two leaders reached the Champs Elysées with five kilometres to go, their advantage was steady at 12 seconds.

However, as they entered the final two kilometres, it was all but over and the tensest of finals was in store.

RESULTS

Tour de France 2026, STAGE 21, PARIS > PARIS (88.7KM)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 1:58:49
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, at same time
3. Made Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek,
4. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana,
5. Ben Healey (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost,
6. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious,
7. Rick Pluimers (Ned) Tudo Pro Cycling,
8. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies,
9. Milan Fretin (Fra) Cofidis,
10. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, all at same time

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 73:56:26
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6:26
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:42
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +11:56
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:02
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+14:59
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +17:48
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +20:00
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +29:28
10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies, +33:21

Jasper Philipsen was relegated then reinstated after finishing third in the bunch sprint on stage 11 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, on an odd early evening in Nevers.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider was punished by the race jury after he appeared to move into a Picnic PostNL rider in the final 500m of the stage, however, after discussion with the team, the Belgian was reinstated. The stage was won by Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), with Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) in second.

In the space of an hour, the team went from being reasonably pleased with third place, to being confused and disappointed, back to close to their original state.

Philipsen later said: "I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong.

"[Relegation] was another disappointment, because I didn't know what happened during the sprint. It was hectic like it always is at the Tour. There was one moment I had a contact with a rider from Picnic, but that's because the speed had dropped a lot. The riders from behind had a lot more speed.

"I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong. I'm happy that they reconsidered it. It's good that the third place is there. It's not a win... but the Tour is not over yet."

The news that Philipsen had been relegated filtered through just under half an hour after the stage, completely changing the mood at the team bus, before that decision was reversed half an hour later further. The Belgian sprinter was informed of the relegation while in an ice bath inside Alpecin-Premier Tech's ice truck, which might have cooled his mood somewhat.

"We don't know which phase it is," Philip Roodhooft, the team's manager, said immediately after the original relegation. "I think consistency is the key to every rule. If it's not applied for everybody in the same way, then that creates trouble, but I don't think anybody has a special eye on Jasper, I think it takes us too far to think that.

"On the other hand, from his position, now being disqualified and getting a yellow card, I think he feels like somebody has an eye on him, I think that's normal."

Twenty minutes later, Christoph Roodhooft, the team's head sports director, told Wielerflits: "It is better the way it is. I think it is only fair. It was a good meeting. We reviewed everything together, and those people had a lot more footage than what we had seen. And ultimately, they consulted again and the decision was reversed.

"It is not easy for anyone here and everything has to happen quickly. I think it is good how things turned out."

Earlier, a chipper Christoph said: "When he says afterwards that he had the legs to be there for the win, that's nice to hear after the difficult stages and sprints he had. For sure there's big progress and that's important."

Philipsen, for his part, added: "We had a positive feeling about my sprint, that was the first time good at this Tour. I was happy with my performance. The sprint was just a strange finish, no-one expected this kind of finish. Everyone stopped and looked at each other with 400m to go. It was a missed opportunity for us."

The team were not left delighted, after all, they finished third, but they were relieved at not being relegated further. Philipsen will now be heartened ahead of the next sprint opportunity, which comes on Thursday's stage 12.

"Sometimes, it looks really easy," Mathieu van der Poel drolly explained in his press conference after he had won stage nine of the 2026 Tour de France in Ussel. It's true, when the Dutchman has powered away to victory at at Monuments, at umpteen Classics, at the Tour before, it has looked simple.

However, on a sweltering day in the Corrèze département on Sunday, it looked anything but easy. This wasn't Playstation cycling but riders at their limit on a brutal course which never seemed flat. For Alpecin-Premier Tech, too, this Tour has not looked to date – no stage win for their star sprinter Jasper Philipsen, and frustration at his lack of form. It was not a day to be putting your body in this much stress, really, but that's what the 176 riders left in the race are paid to do.

Alpecin's mood changed on stage nine, as Van der Poel made it into the break, which was never allowed much of a lead by the peloton, and then survived to the finish. In a group of four that made it to the finish, alongside Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 and Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Van der Poel was always going to be the favourite, especially after the chasing peloton had forced them to ride hard. He delivered.

"Like I said this morning the most difficult part is to get into the breakaway on a day like this," he said post-race. "In the first hour of the race I didn’t feel so great, but then the legs became better and better, and then when I was in the break I became more confident because in the end, the heat wasn't affecting me that much. It was a very difficult day, because the gap was never big to the bunch."

Despite his sparkling palmarès, the Tour hasn't always been a happy hunting ground for Van der Poel, who has expressed his dislike of the giant July jamboree; coincidentally, his break companion Pidcock has said similar things before.

To stave off the boredom perhaps, then, Van der Poel forced his way into the group of 16 riders who made it up the road before being the protagonist of the final split, on the climb of Mont Bessou, 25km from the finish. According to the Dutchman, none of this was planned out.

"I don’t really do it, I’m more a guy who looks day by day to the profile and also how I feel," he said. "You make a plan before the Tour, but if you saw a stage like [Mads] Pedersen won [stage four to Foix], you can try and make a plan but if you don't have the legs it's really difficult to execute. I just see it day by day and try to take my chances when I get it."

The 31-year-old has hardly had a bad season, with five wins so far, but there has not been the usual Flanders or Roubaix, and Alpecin have gone empty-handed at this year's Tour so far.

"It’s only my third victory so it shows how hard it is for me to win a stage at the Tour," Van der Poel argued. "It’s always special to win one. Sometimes, it looks really easy because we always succeeded in winning a Monument or winning sprints at the Tour, but we know it will not always come that easy. Keep working, keep believing in it. We do our best, and that’s all we can do."

As for the team, they are "not panicking". "We have a very nice group here. It’s always nice at the dinner table in the evening, and when you’re in this race you cannot change that much anymore you just need to be patient and keep going everything right hopefully things turn our way. It did today and hopefully we can win another stage with Jasper in the coming weeks."

No panic, all power is the way forward for Van der Poel, and it worked on a lumpy stage nine. One could see it working again at this Tour, now he knows his form is there.

Mathieu van der Poel won an enthralling ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, sprinting to the line after a chaotic day in the Massif Central.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider had been part of a huge breakaway which eventually formed after 60km of aggressive racing in the boiling centre of France.

Only four of the group survived to compete for the win, with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) taking second place, while Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) was third. The breakaway's only other survivor, Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) held on for fourth place, just six seconds ahead of the chasing peloton.

As the leading quartet entered the closing kilometre, with the bunch closing fast, Van der Poel had been stranded on the front by his breakaway companions, but had the power to win the sprint from the front.

Despite the stage being shortened because of the intense heat blanketing the country, stage 9 had always been predicted to be one where the breakaway had a chance of taking the win. Even when overall leader, Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG decided to chase them down, they resisted, taking their lead into the final 30km.

Netcompany-Ineos then took over the pace setting in the bunch the breakaway's dropped, but Van der Poel attacked the breakaway taking three others with him, the quartet racing to the line. Even when Lidl-Trek entered the fray, hoping to set up a win for Mads Pedersen, the leaders held on for the win.

The General Classification remains unchanged, the only difference being Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) moving into 10th overall. Pogačar continues to lead by 2.42 as the race heads into the first rest day on Monday.

The Tour has not gone to plan for Alpecin-Premier Tech so far, with Jasper Philipsen failing to win any of the three sprinters' stages, so Van der Poel was rightly pleased with his victory.

"It was a super hard day," he said. "I think like always we stayed calm, we have a really nice group here and we kept believing that it will turn around and today maybe second week, maybe third week, but it's really nice to go to the first rest day with a win.

"It was for sure better than the first few days," he said, referring to the heat. "I was really struggling and had some difficulties to recover even from the easier days, but already the past two days I felt a little bit better, of course they were easier days, but today I finally had some legs to go for it.

"I spent a lot of energy trying to keep the breakaway alive, there was a lot pressure from the bunch. The roads were horrible for a breakaway, headwind the whole day, we really fought for it, and I'm happy to finish it off."

More to follow…

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sunday's ninth stage between Malemort and Ussel had been slated to cover 185.5km, but with a red alert for intense heat placed on the Corrèze Departement, through which the race rode, Tour de France organisers lopped 30km off the route.

Though an opening southerly loop was removed, the constantly undulating stage still included almost 3,000m of climbing, including four classified climbs, one second category, two third and one fourth.

The shortened course also brought the day's intermediate sprint to kilometre 13.9km. The sprint came on an early unclassified climb, after 2km of a 4.6% gradient, and suited Mads Pedersen, leader of the points classification, perfectly. As a result, his Lidl-Trek team set to work controlling an early break, perfectly leading out the green jersey to take maximum points, extending his lead in the classification.

Concerted efforts to form a breakaway began immediately after the sprint, the road continuing to drag upwards. Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost were among the early protagonists, but, with many teams hoping to get up the road, and despite the unrelenting 36º heat, the breakaway did not form quickly.

Indeed, only after 35km of hectic racing, on a sinuous descent, did two riders go clear, the Tudor Pro Cycling pair of Julian Alaphillipe and Marco Haller getting a gap. They were soon joined by three others and it seemed a truce would be called in the bunch, but on the day's first classified climb, they were brought back, and the fight resumed.

With 100km to go a break was still not clear, though on yet another unclassified ascent, five riders began to claw their way up the road. They were soon joined by 11 others and finally, after 60km, a large breakaway formed, and the day seemed set.

However, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) thought otherwise, riding off the front of that group, though with 80km to go they had been joined by Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Simmons' team mate Derek Gee-West. The remainder of the group eventually slipped back into the clutches of the peloton, which was led by yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, an ominous 1.15 behind.

With 60km to go, UAE had closed that gap to within one minute and it seemed they planned to set up Pogačar for another stage win, holding that gap steady until inexplicably allowing it to grow again. Then, in another twist, Netcompany-Ineos headed to the front, apparently in an effort to defend Bernal's 11th place on GC, the gap beginning to drop once more.

Over the the final classified climb, with 25km to go and the buch closing to within 50 seconds, Van der Poel led Johannessen, Baudin and Pidcock off the front of the break. With much of the remaining kilometres downhill, the leading quartet's advantage settled at that point, despite Lidl-Trek helping the chase in the hope Pedersen could take another stage win. However, with 10km to go the peloton still trailed the leaders, and despite some finessing at the front, the break held on.

The Tour de France takes a day off now, returning on Tuesday for stage 10, a medium mountain stage between Aurillac and Le Lioran.

RESULTS

Tour de France, Stage 9, Malemort > Ussel (154.6KM)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 3:27:51
2. Tobias Haaland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility,
3. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Pinarello-Q36.5,
4. Alex Baudin (Fra) EF Education-EasyPost, at same time
5. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Netcompany-Ineos, +06
6. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek,
7. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla,
8. Nicolas Breuillard (Fra) TotalEnergies,
9. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies,
10. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 9

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 32:17:04
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:30
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +3:34
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:55
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:00
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:21
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+4:57
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +9.12

Mathieu van der Poel punctured in the Trouée d'Arenberg at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, leaving him almost two minutes behind the front of the race leaving the first five-star sector of the race.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider briefly tried to use Jasper Philipsen's bike, before abandoning that plan, as it seemed too small, he then walked back to his original frame, which lay at the side of the road. Another Alpecin rider, Tibor del Grosso, then changed his wheel with an Allen key, before the Dutchman punctured again before the end of the sector.

The incident came with 94km to go after Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) had put the power down heading into the Arenberg, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) among the riders able to follow.

The lead group consisted of that pair, along with Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike), Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM), Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) and Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). A bigger group Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was around 20 seconds behind at this point in the race.

The drama came a few dozen kilometres after Pogačar was briefly forced to use a neutral service bike after puncturing on the Quérénaing à Maing sector, away from a team car. The Slovenian world champion was on the blue Shimano model for around 4km before he was able to change onto his preferred Colnago Y1RS, complete with mismatched tyres front and back.

The gap was briefly around 30 seconds, before Pogačar used his UAE teammates to close the gap before the peloton hit the Arenberg sector.

The opening 170km of the race were completed at over 50km/h, with a 20km/h tailwind helping push the riders along.

More to follow...

After a late catch by the peloton, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) produced an incredibly strong sprint to win In Flanders Fields, as he beat Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) at the finish in Wevelgem to take an emphatic victory.

The Belgian rider had been left disappointed after narrowly missing out on the win at the Ronde Van Brugge earlier in the week, but was back to his best in the final sprint, as a gap opened up for him along the barriers, which gave him just enough space to emerge from the slipstream and launch for the line.

“It’s one I’ve been chasing for a long time,” said Philipsen in his post-race interview. “It’s a Classic that I’ve wanted to win for many years, but never really had the legs at the end. Everything came together today and I was able to take the victory.”

His teammate Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) had been up the road with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) after the pair bridged across to the early breakaway with 57km to go and then went clear on the final ascent of the Kemelberg. However, they were eventually caught by the peloton just before they went under the flamme rouge, setting up a sprint from the reduced bunch after a late attack from Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) was also reeled in.

“With Mathieu in the front, it was an ideal situation for our team. He told us already quite some kilometres before the final that he didn’t have the best legs because of Friday, but if you can still ride away with two in the end, then his legs weren’t too bad,” said Philipsen.

Efforts from the sprinters’ teams in the peloton behind saw the leading pair gradually brought back on the long run-in to the finish after the final climb, with Philipsen stating that, “I knew from the past that the finish is always quite long and it’s difficult to have fresh legs in the end. That’s what I needed today to gamble on the sprint and take the win.”

The final sprint was hectic, with very few riders left from each team to do a leadout for their sprinter.

“It was not easy,” said Philipsen. “We did the leadout with Jonas Geens and Florian Sénéchal, who are both new to the team, so for them it’s also new to find the perfect moment, find each other and work together. I think we had a good plan, so it’s really nice to make it happen and finish it off together with those teammates.”

This victory sees Philipsen get back to winning ways after a disappointing runner-up finish at the Ronde Van Brugge earlier in the week. It also marks his first WorldTour win of the season, with his only other victory prior to this race coming at Nokere Koerse earlier this month.

It has certainly been a quieter start to the year than the Belgian sprinter would have hoped for, but with major objectives of his Spring Classics campaign coming up at races such as Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix, he could be hitting form at the perfect time.

Results

In Flanders Fields Men 2026: Middelkerke > Wevelgem (241km)

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 5:08:03
2. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon CMA CGM
3. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
5. Robert Donaldson (GBr) Jayco AlUla
6. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
7. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
8. Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
9. Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek, all at same time

Mathieu van der Poel won a third successive E3 Saxo Classic after a thrilling finish in which it looked like the Dutchman would be caught.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider escaped with 45km to go on Friday, and might have cruised to the finish, but a strong group of four were metres away from him in the finale.

Despite this, a feint and surge from Van der Poel delivered a famous victory in Harelbeke. Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the sprint for second, with Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third.

It seemed to be an opportunity thrown away by the quartet behind, which also included Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).

"At 5 kilometres from the finish, I ran out of steam," Van der Poel explained at the finish, after catching his breath. "At one point, I didn't have much faith in it anymore."

"I just kept riding my wattages. At a good kilometre, I thought they were coming back, but I knew I couldn't sprint anymore. I rode as hard as possible while seated, and it turned out to be just enough."

"On the Boigneberg, it was more about thinning out the group, but I ended up alone," he explained of his attack. "The stretch from there to the Paterberg was full headwind, and then I felt it was going to be a tough effort.

"At first, I still had a reasonably good feeling about it, but I know how difficult that course is to ride alone. I thought I wasn't going to be able to hold on; at 5 kilometers, I was done. In the end, I made it, but it cost blood, sweat, and tears."

"It is one of the victories that hurt the most," Van der Poel added.

How it happened

After leaving Harelbeke, the breakaway took a long time to be fully established, with Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), Michiel Lambrecht (Flanders-Baloise), Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM), Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla) and Sven Erik Bystrøm (Uno-X Mobility) heading up the road.

These six built an advantage of over three minutes over the peloton, although for a long time there was a second group between the pair, which was Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL), Sean Flynn (Picnic PostNL) and Vojtěch Kmínek (Burgos Burpellet BH). However, the trio never looked like catching those up the road.

The first big move came at 94km to go, on the Karnemelkbeekstraat, when a group of seven, including Timo Kielich (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM). They soon caught Renard-Haquin, Flynn and Kmínek, and passed them.

On the Taaienberg, with around 70km to go, Tim Van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) attacked, followed by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), the defending champion.

At this point, there were still two groups on the road in front of the pair, before Van der Poel went solo with around 45km to go

Few would be forgiven for thinking that this was race over, with the rider who won the last two editions out in front, but a group including DeWulf, Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike), Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) started to reel the former world champion in. A time gap which was over a minute was reduced to 30 seconds with under 15km to go, and then close to 10 seconds with under 5km to go.

However, despite practically being on Van der Poel’s wheel just under the kilometre to go banner, the Dutchman surged again, as the group behind started to play games over who would do the final pull to catch him.

After winning a record eighth UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships elite title, Mathieu van der Poel was in a reflective mood, suggesting he might skip a season of CX.

The Dutchman, 31, stormed to victory in Hulst on Sunday ahead of his compatriot Tibor Del Grosso and Thibau Nys of Belgium.

However, much of his interview post-race was dedicated not to the feat of beating Erik De Vlaeminck's record, but to his future in the sport. This winter, Van der Poel won all 13 of the races he started, winning the UCI World Cup in the process, but it might not always be this way.

"Maybe it's not a bad idea to skip one winter because to be here it's the first peak of my season always, not only physically, but also mentally," Van der Poel said post-race.

"This is a day when I want to be in top shape, 90% is not enough or would not be enough for me to be at the start line here.

"That's why I've started to think about different approaches to the road season. You're always thinking about two things: trying to be the best possible shape at these World Championships and also the road season is not so far away at this point."

On the road, Alpecin-Premier Tech's Van der Poel has managed to be competitive in the Classics after his CX season; last season, he won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and went on to win a stage and wear yellow at the Tour de France in July.

However, his race days are lower than some direct rivals, a tactic which seems to work for him, but there might be a change in the future. For the past two years, Van der Poel has raced just 41 times on the road, and has never gone above 46. Meanwhile, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) raced 65 times last season, and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 73 times.

"It worked for me in the past, but you always have to think about improvement and doing better than last year," Van der Poel said.

"I'm getting closer to the end than I was to the beginning of my career. It's something I think about. I still have some goals left, but I also know I will not be able to tick off all of them.

"In the back of your mind, you're thinking about Flanders and Roubaix in my case. Those are the races I could write history as well. I've still got a couple of years so I'll do everything I can to make it work.

"If I know I won't do cyclo-cross, I will also do a different road programme. I will then race longer on the road and start earlier on the road. I also found some peace in the relaxing moments in Spain. I think I can do it without cyclo-cross."

As we hit January, it is more than the time for pro cycling teams to release their new kits for 2026. For some, this is the best part of the year, before the reality of racing gets involved, when we can just imagine how good the jerseys will look on the road.

Rather than writing up each team individually, we thought it would work better if we collated them together, unless someone does something mad. When all the kits are out, we can do our usual arbitrary evaluation of them too, so do look out for that. In this guide, we will cover all the WorldTour teams, and notable other squads, but not all, otherwise it will get a bit overwhelming, apart from particular exceptions.

If you would rather find out which team riders will be appearing for next year, rather than what they will be wearing, you can find that on our comprehensive transfer guide for 2026 too.

Teams have also changed names – Israel-Premier Tech to NSN Cycling, Alpecin-Deceuninck to Alpecin-Premier Tech, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to Decathlon CMA CGM and more – so that will have an impact on the kits too.

While teams will have tried to keep the fresh designs under wraps, a few have leaked into the public domain. However, this list will only have confirmed designs. So far, those who are fans of garish outfits should be pleased.

So far, we are only certain of a few kits for next season, but more will appear in the coming weeks or days. We'll update this as we go!

Picnic PostNL

If I were to play spot the difference, I would be hard pushed with the 2026 Picnic PostNL kit. It remains navy and orange, with the 'Keep Challenging' stripes, and the name is the same too. There are a couple of new sponsors on there, and this is apparently different, but that's it.

As the press release says: "Clear and vibrant amongst the colourful peloton: fans, commentators and pundits alike won’t have to re-adjust for the 2026 campaign as they can expect to see the two orange stripes from those helicopter shots on even the foggiest of days."

Pinarello-Q36.5

It's a continuation of navy for the renamed Pinarello-Q36.5, but no white sleeves this year. Instead, this smart jersey is fully navy, with fancy gold accents. The bikes don't look bad either...

According to Q36.5's founder, Luigi Bergamo: "The new jersey design evolves the visual language we began developing last season to reflect the Italian values of premium, daring, design that we share with Pinarello.

"The result is a kit that allows our riders to feel, from the very first moment they pull on the kit, that they are part of something special and unique: the only team in the professional peloton founded and powered by Italian technical partners. We can’t wait to see this jersey (and our iconic Dottore bib shorts!) racing sharp at the front of the bunch."

Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco

MAAP entered WorldTour cycling with their Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco kits, and have stuck to their theme from 2025 with this purple – sorry, "Aurora" – jersey, paired with dark grey shorts.

The new addition is the flame motif, which stretches to the socks, which is a bit of fun.

MAAP's creative director, Misha Glisovic, said: "MAAP has always been driven to push the boundaries. It’s core to who we are and how we see our place in the sport. We want to use design to broaden the appeal of pro cycling, nudging the sport towards something more stylish and aspirational. Ultimately, we want to be true to our values at MAAP, and GreenEDGE shares this vision."

Human Powered Health

Women's WorldTour squad Human Powered Health have partnered with Verge Sport for their new kit. The new design keeps the orange/red/purple that we have become used to for the team, but in a new pattern, which is called 'Tailwind'. It's designed "to embody speed, motion, and momentum".

The press release says the jersey has a "rich, sweeping warm-to-cool colour gradient that represents Human Powered Health’s Pillars of Performance". It'll be paired with black shorts.

Lotto-Intermarché

The newly merged Lotto-Intemarché go with the red of Lotto for 2026. The kit is a dark-ish red, paired with black shorts, and there isn't really too much more to say about it. It's smart!

According to the statement: "In terms of colour, both main sponsors, Intermarché and Lotto, were already allies: their brand colours red and black dominate the design. The meaningful, subtle fingerprint pattern further strengthens the bold look."

Bahrain Victorious

Bahrain Victorious have been red, orange, purple, and white, but never blue. That changes in 2026, when the team, now riding Bianchi bikes, will be in navy blue with teal sleeves.

The press release reveals deeper meanings: "At the heart of the kit sits a deep navy, a colour that has been part of the team’s identity since its foundation. Subtly woven into the design is a faint “X” that crosses the jersey, the Roman numeral representing ten years in the sport.

"On the sleeves of the jersey, Bianchi’s iconic Celeste is distinctly featured, perfectly matching the shallow blue waters and teal tones that represent Bahrain’s two seas."

Visma-Lease a Bike

The men and women of Visma-Lease a Bike will continue in yellow for 2026, wearing a kit made by Nimbl, who are more known for their cycling shoes.

According to Francesco Matrone, graphic designer at Nimbl: "In a WorldTour context, design must be essential, intentional, and instantly recognizable. One of our key goals was to create a visual identity that's identifiable at speed and reflects performance and clarity. It must be unmistakably Visma-Lease a Bike. Every graphic element is functional, integrated, and designed to perform under pressure.”

EF Pro Cycling

EF Education–EasyPost and EF Education–Oatly will remain pink next year, but have switched kit suppliers from Rapha to Assos.

Assos says the 2026 kit reflects a "forward-looking mindset" with a "bold colour palette" that evolves EF Pro Cycling’s unmistakable visual identity while introducing "a new, almost other-worldly energy to the peloton."

The silver bits are fun, and pink is always good to me – I just wonder what's going to happen when the Giro d'Italia comes around.

Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech

It's a brand new name for Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech – no more Deceuninck – but not a completely new kit, with similar vibes for the WorldTour and Women's WorldTour teams. The men's team has a kit made by Kalas, which is the same blue as before, more or less, but with a bit more of a light grading across the chest.

The women's team, meanwhile, wear a kit made by Alé, which is pretty similar to the orange of 2025, and there doesn't seem to be the green and blue options from before.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto are usually found in a bold, colourful kit, and next season is no different. This is Luminous, designed by Mckenzie Sampson and made by Canyon. It takes a dark purple base and merges it with turquoise, pink, coral and red.

Sampson said: "I’ve always found Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto to be an aspiring light within the peloton. They’re a team that gives a unique platform to a diverse set of riders across the globe to get their big break in cycling. To visually illustrate that sense of light and hope, we wanted the kit design to be bold yet convey the right balance of contrasting light, unique patterns, and rich saturated moments of colour."

AG Insurance-Soudal

AG Insurance-Soudal have mostly the same kit as their brother team Soudal Quick-Step, just with different sponsors. There is a new logo, too: Datashift, a Belgian leader in data solutions and strategy.

It's a blue base, with green accents across, with a white band across the chest for AG Insurance.

Ineos Grenadiers

There was rumour and speculation that it might happen, but now it is official... Ineos Grenadiers will be wearing WHITE yes WHITE shorts next season. Well, it's technically 'light grey', but come on.

Orange is the main colour on the jersey for the first time, after various blues and reds, but it is the white that stands out. It's as striking, if not more so, as AG2R's famous brown shorts, and we wonder how the riders are feeling about it...

The press release says: "The design was created with a clear purpose: immediate recognition. The exclusive use of this orange ensures a striking presence in the peloton, while the white panels on the lower sections add balance and clarity, allowing the leading colour to shine with harmonious strength. The result is a sophisticated, functional and memorable kit."

Apparently: "Orange is the new uniqueness. Orange is the new icon." Read our opinion on it here.

Soudal Quick-Step

It's evolution not revolution for Soudal Quick-Step in 2026, who have a similar kit to this season, but green rather than white as the accent colour, along with the classic blue.

According to the team: "The new design incorporates a vivid electric-lime element, a deliberate move inspired by the Shine for Safety visibility campaign launched during this year’s Ardennes Classics."

There is a lot more green on the back, which will help them stand out, apparently. It's a nice wavy pattern. The kit is designed and made by Castelli.

FDJ United-SUEZ

If you're thinking "I've seen this kit before", you would be right. FDJ United-SUEZ will be wearing their 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kit full-time next year. It's largely black, with an explosion of red and blue on the chest.

The press release says about the Gobik kit: "The jersey reflects the unseen hours of the sport: training sessions before dawn, rides in the rain, the fear and doubts of a jour sans. In contrast, a vivid halo of light rises on the chest, symbolising the inner spark that transforms sacrifice into brilliance at the moment of victory.

Demi Vollering won't be in this kit, given the Dutchwoman is European champion.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rarely mix the colour palette up too much, and 2026 will be no different – it's largely white, with black and red trim, but it definitely has changed since last season.

The Pissei kit, handcrafted at the brand's Italian Custom Lab, has some fun geometric patterns on the stormach of the jersey, with black on the arms too. Don't expect to see Tadej Pogačar in this one, however, considering he is world champion.

Movistar

It's a second year in a row in white for Movistar, who have ditched the navy box across the chest for this cleaner offering. There is the classic M on the front, and some accents across the rest of the front.

Apparently: "Gobik sought a futuristic aesthetic, an evolution that projects innovation and performance on a white base. Technological textures, iridescent graphics and subtle transparencies were combined to create a striking design that reflects the identity and avant-garde spirit of the team." Avant-garde. Right.

Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek's kit is different. Definitely. There's less red on the front, more blue, and there's a new sponsor on the front, but it is, essentially, the same as last year. There's nothing wrong with that! It's a good kit! "Our favourite colours" is what the team said. Keep it simple. The men and women use the same kit, which is good.

The team say: "With a fresh twist on a fan-favorite design, Santini have delivered again with the 2026 Lidl-Trek kit. Pairing the ultimate fabrics with playful colours, the latest design delivers looks as well as performance."

Decathlon CMA CGM

Sadly, there's no exciting bumf to go with the new Decathlon CMA CGM kit, but with a new name comes a new colour - red. The brown shorts are sadly still in the dustbin of history, with new sponsors CMA CGM bringing the new colour. One sleeve is still teal (?) while the other is a lot darker, rather than the dark blue it was before.

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe

Now, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's kit is yet to be officially announced, but seeing as all the riders in the plane stunt were wearing a new kit, let's assume this is the new one for 2026. It's a lot whiter than before, with royal blue sleeves, and less navy. It is similar to the special kit they used at the Tour de France this season.

SD Worx-Protime

SD Worx-Protime have veered away from the purple and pinks of recent years, and instead will race in this primary colour-heavy jersey which is called "New Dawn"

It's designed by Specialized, and is paired with black shorts. Notably, Lotte Kopecky will be racing in it, no longer being world, European, or Belgian champion, for once.

According to the press release: "The new jersey reflects the team’s and sponsors’ ongoing drive for innovation. Standing still is not an option – continuously reinventing ourselves in every aspect is a core value at SD Worx-Protime. The new design symbolises our rich history through the spark, now multiplied and displayed in various shades. This emphasises the team’s slogan: we spark success."

NSN Cycling

The team formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech have become NSN Cycling, and will be wearing a busy kit next season, with a base of sky blue and orange. The jury is out over whether this will be easy to notice or to lose in the peloton. They're also riding Scott bikes now.

If you want to know why it looks like this, the press release says: "It's designed by Stijn Dossche of stycle.design, is inspired by the Mediterranean city from which the team’s new identity has been forged.

"Its design blends geometry, colour blocks, and patterns reminiscent of contemporary Barcelona - a city that never stands still, where tradition meets modernity, where Mediterranean light becomes art, and movement becomes identity."

Just in time for the Tour de France Grand Départ in July, then – that's in Barça.

Groupama-FDJ United

Another new name, though less dramatic, is Groupama-FDJ United. The French stalwarts are slow to change their kits, normally, and the same is true next year. It's the fetching number they wore at this year's Tour, although it's now made by Bioracer rather than Alé. Essentially, it's royal blue with a red accent sleeve.

Cofidis

Cofidis are another French team barely changing their kit for 2026. The men's and women's teams, now both ProTeams, will use the same red and yellow jersey as this season, although the shades might have been slightly altered, and the sponsors have moved around a bit.

Alpecin-Deceuninck are to become Alpecin-Premier Tech for 2026, after Deceuninck stepped away from being title sponsors, it was announced on Friday.

Premier Tech, which was formerly a title sponsor of Israel-Premier Tech, is now going to support the men's WorldTour Alpecin team, and the Women's WorldTour Fenix squad.

It means the team's future has been guaranteed, after a three-year partnership was signed. Alpecin is also staying with the team for two more years.

Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen are the men's team's star riders, while Puck Pieterse, Yara Kastelijn and Charlotte Kool lead the women's.

Alpecin has been the title sponsor since 2020 of the men's team run by Philip and Christoph Roodhoft, before Deceuninck came on board in 2022 after leaving Quick-Step. Deceuninck will remain as a sponsor, but not in the name. Deceuninck make windows and doors, while Alpecin are a shampoo brand.

Premier Tech will also sponsor French team St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 next season, but not as title sponsors, which allowed the Canadian company to move forward with Alpecin.

The Canadian waste water management, fertilisers and recycling company came aboard as co-sponsors of the cycling team formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech in 2022.

The ProTeam, which is set to be promoted to the WorldTour for 2026, has become NSN Cycling now, after "moving away from its current Israeli identity".

However, in a statement, a spokesperson for Premier Tech said last month that the "core reason to sponsor the team has been overshadowed to a point where it has become untenable".

The news of the rebranding followed a series of protests against the Israeli team's involvement in bike racing, including at the recent Vuelta a España, as Israel's war in Gaza continued. In October, the team was disinvited from the Giro dell'Emilia because of safety issues.

At the unveiling of the refreshed squad on Friday, Canadian Hugo Houle was revealed as a new rider for the Belgian team, likely with the backing of Premier Tech; he moved from the team formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech.

There had been uncertainty over the future of the squad, with a sponsor hunt underway. However, according to Wielerflits, Philip Roodhoft told press: "We waited for the right moment to communicate this. Some partners are renewing, and none are disappearing.

"They are all renewing on improved financial terms, except one. Alpecin will definitely stay in 2026 and 2027, and that is optional for 2028."

German rider Louis Kitzki has retired aged 21 over safety concerns after being present for two deaths in professional bike races.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck Development rider, a former Zwift Academy winner, said in a post on Instagram that the effects of being at the races where Samuele Privitera, at the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta in July, and André Drege, at the 2024 Tour of Austria, died, meant he was unable to continue in the pro peloton.

"Probably not the kind of career end I had imagined," Kitzki wrote.

"After participating in my last race, the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta, and the associated death of Samuele Privitera, I decided to end my career as a professional cyclist.

"After last year's Tour of Austria, where another rider died, I already had serious doubts about racing and was on the verge of quitting. Nevertheless, I continued and largely suppressed what had happened. Unfortunately, after the Tour of Austria, I never became the racer I once was again."

Drege, a Coop-Repsol rider, died after a crash on a descent of the Großglockner at last year's Tour of Austria. At development race the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta in July, Privitera, a rider for Hagens Berman Jayco, died after crashing on a descent. Last year, at the World Championships, Swiss 18-year-old Muriel Furrer died following a crash in the junior women’s road race at the event in Zürich, Switzerland. Her compatriot Gino Mäder died after a crash at the Tour de Suisse in 2023.

"I became increasingly concerned about my safety and felt increasingly uncomfortable in races, which in the medium term meant that I was never able to reproduce in races what I had worked so hard to achieve in training," Kitzki continued in his post. "Towards the end, races were unfortunately just an annoying side effect that you had to accept if you wanted to earn money from cycling. I had completely lost the fun of racing, and the more chaotic a race became, the more brutally I broke down mentally.

"Unfortunately, without the mind, the body only functions poorly. What happened in the Aosta Valley was ultimately just confirmation of my decision, and I can see how well I've been doing since I quit. I regret that I was unable to live up to some expectations as a professional cyclist and that my collaboration with Alpecin is now coming to an end. Nevertheless, I am certain that it was the right decision to stop."

"Nonetheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity I was given by my team Alpecin-Deceuninck and Zwift," Zitzki ended. "I was able to learn from the best cyclists in the world and got to know many nice people on the team. In addition, I was able to significantly improve my physical condition thanks to my trainer Philipp Walsleben, even though I was never really able to show it in the races. I felt that this team is very aware of its responsibility towards young athletes and I never felt pressured in any way. I always enjoyed the training and the improvement process very much and hopefully I will find the time to cycle again occasionally in the future.

"Thanks to all my teammates, the entire staff, Philipp, Sander, Bart, Jens, Luuc, and Ahto! I wish you all the best and stay safe!"

Alpecin-Deceuninck have not released a statement.

Mathieu van der Poel has been forced to abandon the Tour de France ahead of stage 16, with the Dutchman suffering with pneumonia.

His Alpecin-Deceuninck team announced the news on Tuesday morning, hours before the third week of the Tour was due to begin with a stage from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux.

The 30-year-old won stage two to Boulougne-sur-Mer in the opening week, and twice had time in the yellow jersey, being one of the key attackers in the race. However, a cold worsened over Monday's rest day, and Van der Poel was taken to hospital in Narbonne as a result.

He spent five days in the breakaway at this Tour, seemingly constantly in moves, including Sunday's stage 15 to Carcassonne. He came close to a second stage victory on stage 11 to Toulouse, where he finished third after failing to catch the final pair out front.

"We regret to announce that Mathieu van der Poel is forced to abandon the Tour de France prematurely," an Alpecin-Deceuninck spokesperson said.

"Mathieu had been experiencing symptoms of a common cold over the past few days. Yesterday afternoon, his condition began to worsen significantly. The team doctor monitored him closely throughout the day. By the evening, Mathieu developed a fever and was taken to the ‘Centre Hospitalier de Narbonne’ for further examinations.

"Medical tests revealed that Mathieu is suffering from pneumonia. In consultation with the medical staff, it was decided that he can no longer continue the race. His health is the top priority, and rest and recovery are now essential.

"Mathieu will be required to rest for at least one full week. After this period, he will undergo further medical examinations to assess his recovery and determine the next steps in his rehabilitation."

Van der Poel is expected to focus on mountain biking later this season, with the Dutchman aiming for glory at the MTB World Championships in Switzerland at the end of August and beginning of September. It is not known how this period of illness and rest will now affect these plans.

Alpecin-Deceuninck's Oscar Riesebeek has made history as the first rider to be suspended under the UCI’s new yellow card rule.

The 32-year-old received two yellow cards at the Baloise Belgium Tour last week – one on stage two and one on stage five – both for “use of sidewalks/pavements, paths or cycle lanes that do not form part of the race course”.

According to UCI rules, which were trialled last summer and put in place permanently this season, any rider who receives two yellow cards in the same race will face a seven-day suspension.

Alpecin-Deceuninck confirmed in a statement on Monday that Riesebeek has been suspended, and that “both rider and team accept this correct and justified decision”. The rider's ban will run until 30 June, meaning he will miss his upcoming Dutch National Championships.

“I accept the consequences of my actions,” Riesebeek said in the statement. “Of course, it’s disappointing to miss the Nationals, but looking back, I realise my behaviour in the race was not only wrong but also put fellow riders at risk. And that’s something I sincerely regret and apologise for.

“The rules are clear. If they are applied consistently, I fully respect that. I’ll now take some quiet time to recover and prepare for my next goals.”

The UCI first launched its yellow card system in August last year as part of a five-month test period.

As well as a seven-day suspension, and race disqualification, for receiving two yellow cards in the same race, the governing body also threatens: a 14-day suspension for riders who collect three yellow cards within a 30-day period; and a 30-day suspension for for riders who collect six yellow cards within a one-year period.

This year, the UCI has issued 158 yellow cards, which have been shared between riders, team staff, race organisers and members of the media.

Riesebeek would have been disqualified from the Baloise Belgium Tour under the yellow card rule, had he not crashed and abandoned the race during his second yellow card offence. The Dutchman rode on the pavement inside 4km to go, and crashed alone when he collided with an Ineos Grenadiers rider on trying to rejoin the course.

Alpecin-Deceuninck confirmed Riesebeek suffered no fractures. He is next due to ride the Tour de France, which starts on 5 July.

A man has handed himself in to Belgian police in West Flanders after admitting throwing a full bottle of water into the face of Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

According to a report in Nieuwsblad, nothing is known about the man’s identity but he is said to have expressed regret for his actions.

Van der Poel was alone off the front of the race when the bottle struck him on the Templeuve-en-Pévèle cobbled sector. Fortunately for the Dutchman, he managed to stay upright and the incident did not impact the outcome of the race. But it could have been much worse.

Speaking in his post-race press conference, Van der Poel described the impact of the bottle as feeling like a stone hitting his face, such was the speed he was travelling at across the cobbles. "It doesn’t destroy the fun I had but it’s not normal, it was a full bottle, it was like a stone hitting my face," he said. "It’s not acceptable, if they spit or throw beer it’s still unacceptable but this is different. This is something we have to take legal action on."

He later said to Sporza that his team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, would be pursuing legal action against the spectator if the UCI did not get to them first and described the act as "attempted manslaughter".

It is not the first time that Van der Poel has been the victim of similar behaviour from the roadside. During last year’s Paris-Roubaix, a spectator attempted to throw a hat into his back wheel as he rode to victory in the rainbow jersey as reigning world champion. He has also been spat at by people during the E3 Saxo Classic, and he had beer thrown over him in the same race. The Belgian branch of the CPA riders union said last year that it would be pursuing legal action against fans who threw beer at the 30-year-old during the Tour of Flanders.

"We want something to be done about those who spoil the atmosphere for everyone," said Bert Scheirlincx, secretary general of the Belgian cyclists' association, BPCA, at the time. "We are prepared to go all the way with our civil action as long as certain rude fans are punished and stop spoiling the spectacle that our beautiful sport has to offer."

Mathieu van der Poel has revealed that he has been suffering from illness during this year's Classics but will return to Paris-Roubaix on Sunday looking to add a third successive victory at the race.

The Dutchman has already won Milan-San Remo and the E3 Saxo Classic in recent weeks, but was bested by Tadej Pogačar at last weekend’s Tour of Flanders. After Pogačar attacked Van der Poel was unable to get back on terms and was later forced to settle for third on the day behind the UAE Emirates-XRG rider and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Speaking ahead of Paris-Roubaix, the former road world champion revealed that he has been suffering from an underlying virus during the last few weeks of action which he said was “made worse” by racing in the cold drizzle of Belgium at E3, which he went on to win.

He said: "By Monday [three days after E3], I felt really under the weather. I ended up on antibiotics, and during Flanders I still wasn’t at 100%, though I was able to defend myself fairly well. In the end, I still made the podium.

"After the Tour of Flanders, I had a bit of a dip again but that's probably not surprising: it was a big effort on Sunday, and I still wasn’t fully recovered. But now it's Friday, and I'm feeling much better. I think I'm reasonably okay to try and defend my title on Sunday."

Despite being under the weather, Van der Poel made clear that his recent illness will not be an excuse on Sunday and explained that Alpecin-Deceuninck's strength in depth means they go into Roubaix as one of the favourites for the win alongside Hell of the North debutant, Pogačar.

"I start every race to win, and this year is no different," he said. "Of course, that's easier said than done, but that's the mindset I bring to the start. And if I'm not at my absolute best, we'll do everything we can to keep the victory within the team. Jasper Philipsen has shown over the past two years that he’s more than capable of winning this race too."

Van der Poel won last year’s edition by almost three minutes after attacking on the Orchies cobbled sector after a late attack saw him distance Wout van Aert 12 months previously. Jasper Philipsen has finished second to his teammate on both occasions.

Much of the pre-race noise has inevitably centred on Pogačar, although Van der Poel warned that multiple teams could play a part in the fight for victory, including Lidl-Trek.

"It's maybe harder to predict than usual," he said. "Pogačar is always a major contender. But in Flanders, we also saw Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen, and Jasper Stuyven performing at a very high level. And then there’s [Filippo] Ganna. Paris-Roubaix might just be the perfect race for him."

Noah Ramsay, the winner of the male Zwift Academy, says winning an Alpecin-Deceuninck contract for this year is a “massive weight” off his shoulders.

The 21-year old Canadian has spent several years competing in UCI mountain biking events in his home country, but he will now transition to the road as part of the Belgian WorldTour team’s development setup.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the event in Dénia, Spain, at the end of 2024, Ramsay said that after spending a long time organising his own events as a privateer, knowing that he would be part of the Alpecin setup had come as a huge relief.

"I don’t even know how to describe it," he said. "It’s a massive weight off my shoulders, I don’t think I’ve even fully processed it yet. So I know I’m super happy, but it has not fully hit me yet. I don’t fully know what it means for me for next year, but I think it’ll mean less stress on me for having to sort my own plans out, which will be nice for a change. I’m really excited for the challenge that this brings for me now."

Playing down his own success, Ramsay was quick to highlight the strengths of his fellow competitors, including Scotland’s Elliot Bain, saying that he felt any one of them could have earned the lucrative contract at the end of the process.

"Once we were chosen, everything was very smooth, but the testing was very hard," he said. "I think it was clear who the best riders were, I don’t think I will have stood out particularly, I think a few of us all stood out."

The Toronto-born rider spent much of his youth playing ice hockey, only transitioning into cycling in 2018 when he first took up mountain biking.

"My cycling career started when I was 16 years old, after playing competitive hockey for all of my childhood," he explained. "I started racing a mountain bike in 2018, my second year of junior did not happen as it was 2020 and Covid-19 cancelled all racing in Canada so I spent the next 16 months training to get myself to a competitive level for international races when they returned."

Working closely with his coach, Ramsay eventually forced his way into the Canadian under 23 XCO World Championships team in 2021. He explained to CW that his MTB results have improved year on year, culminating in finishing fifth at the recent short track World Cup on the Monte Sainte Anne course in Canada.

Ramsay said he had taken a lot from his experiences on the Zwift Academy, with his favourite event being one in which he showed he had a cutting edge.

He said: "I personally really enjoyed the sprint workout drills that I had to compete against my fellow competitors, where it was kind of like a one on one race between the four of us. I could play it tactically there, I could think about how I was going to win, and afterwards I had a lot of feedback on my strengths and weaknesses and how I could use it all to my advantage."

Mathieu van der Poel thinks it is inevitable that Tadej Pogačar will one day triumph at Paris-Roubaix and add another Monument title to his rapidly growing trophy cabinet.

Van der Poel has won the last two editions of the Hell of the North but feels Pogačar would be more than capable of getting the better of both him and his fellow Classics stars on the Roubaix cobblestones.

Pogačar is not riding the race next year, but it is thought he will make an attempt on the pavé at some point in his career.

"He will for sure try it once," Van der Poel said at his Alpecin-Deceuninck training camp earlier this month. "Maybe not next year but for sure I think he will try to win it at some point."

"For sure," he added when asked if Pogačar could be the first man over the line in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux. "He already showed in the Tour stage we did on the cobbles once that he was really strong so I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone [if he won]. He would be one of the favourites in Roubaix if he went."

"Tadej is quite special, of course. Although if you see the Monuments it’s often the same winners, only San Remo is a bit more diverse. But it is definitely not easy to win these sorts of races."

In between looking ahead to the new season, Van der Poel joked that he was making the most of the time he had left in the mid-December sun before heading back to northern Europe to compete in the 11 eleven cyclocross races currently pencilled into his winter program.

The former road world champion said that once he heads back to Belgium most of his training will feature lengthy periods spent on Zwift.

"I used to be much more on Zwift but I spend a lot of time in Spain now," he said. "During the winter when I’m in Belgium I’m riding almost every day on Zwift to be honest. I prefer to jump on that than to go out in the bad weather and especially with cyclocross it is a nice combination.

"You can do cyclocross training in the afternoon and then an hour on there and it is a nice combination. But down here in Spain you don’t need it often."

Jasper Philipsen says Alpecin Deceuninck will be fully prepared and ready to deal with the favourite tag during the Spring Classics next season after the team’s early season dominance last time out.

The Belgium team won all three of the opening Monuments through Mathieu van der Poel and Philipsen himself. Van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix for a second time after winning the Tour of Flanders once more in only his fourth race day of the season. Meanwhile, Philipsen kickstarted the squad’s fine early season run with victory at Milan-San Remo.

Philipsen has gradually begun to build an identity for himself as far more than just a sprinter. His two consecutive second places at Roubaix behind his teammate only helped to continue to build that narrative.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly at Alpecin-Deceuninck’s winter training camp in Spain, Philipsen said that the Classics have begun to have equal importance for him on an individual basis alongside the Tour de France and targeting the green sprinters jersey.

"During the season we’re looking more towards the Classics races for me now and also training for these specific races regularly," he explained. "Going to the Tour de France I’ll then look to try and improve more in the sprints and focus on that but I think what we did last year went quite well so we will try to do more or less the same for me and try to have a successful spring campaign.

"I’ll always be a sprinter and the sprints will be my strength, but it’s not going to be the main focus for the first part of the year for me."

"We’re still figuring out the details of my program but there will be no Tour Down Under or anything like that," he added. "Last year went really well so we don’t need to adapt too many things. We’ll switch my training after the Classics and start to tailor things towards sprinting again but it’s more or less a similar approach."

"I was really happy with how it all went," he explained as he reflected back on 2024. "To do what we did [at Paris-Roubaix] for two years in a row was really quite special. Next year all eyes will be on us but we will be ready.

"It would be great for us to win again at Roubaix but I will just be happy if I’m good and maybe win another Classic. It’s really hard to just specifically target one because it means you need to be really 100% perfect and there’s many circumstances that can get in the way."

Philipsen joked that it was a relief to be in Dénia on the Costa Blanca once more after foul winter weather had begun to take hold back home in Belgium. The 26-year-old has spent a large amount of training time on Zwift but was relishing the opportunity to be out on the road once more with his teammates in the south of Spain.

"It’s a bit of an evolution coming here," he said. "I think one team started it, then others followed and eventually the whole bunch was here. Every year you see more and more people coming down here and you see more and more amateurs and younger riders too. Some of the guys stay here for months now in order to prepare for the new season."

"In Belgium it’s always raining so I usually just go on Zwift," he added. "If it’s a shorter ride and I don’t want to go out on the road then I use it then as well. I don’t really like to train just on rollers so this helps make it more interactive and just more fun. It’s a cool alternative to have."

If you were sad that new cycling kit season was over, then Alpecin-Deceuninck have a treat for you, namely a wild new denim-themed offering.

The Belgian team started off 2024 wearing last season's kit, which it has taken one win in already - stage two of the Etoile de Bessèges through Axel Laurance - but it will race the UAE Tour next week in a lighter jersey.

While we are unlikely to see Mathieu van der Poel in the denim much, before August anyway, seeing as he is world champion, the rest of the squad will be wearing double denim throughout the year, it seems.

In a press release, the team said it was "proud to unveil its brand-new outfit and new team logo", with the new Alpecin-Deceuninck emblem similarly jean-themed. It's an interesting choice.

"It is a striking design, characterised by a modern denim look," the press release reads. "The jersey is designed by KALAS, the clothing supplier we have been working with for years. The stylish design will be visible in competition for the first time at the UAE Tour, where Kaden Groves is [to be] our leader. 

"The denim kit is representing our team’s perspective for 2024: daring to stand out, while keeping our feet on the ground. Working hard together, while having fun together. Because jeans are great for any occasion, no?"

Jeans might be good for almost any social occasion but I'm not sure about their application on the bike, although perhaps it is fashionable; who am I to argue. For a team which has possibly the best looking bike in the bunch - the purple Canyon Aeroad - to combine it with the denim jersey is a bit of a juxtaposition.

The kit bears a glaring resemblance to Soudal Quick-Step's outfit, in bad news for those of us who like to quickly tell apart riders in the bunch apart from a helicopter shot, but the different helmets should be a bit of a giveaway.

Of course, it isn't the first time denim has featured in professional cycling. In the late 1980s, the Italian fashion brand Carrera Jeans sponsored one of the world's top teams, winning the Giro d'Italia through Robert Visentini and Stephen Roche, with the latter also triumphing at the Tour de France in 1986, all while wearing "denim" bib shorts.

Just last season AG2R Citroën wore real denim at Strade Bianche, with manufacturers Rosti producing bib shorts made out of stretch denim. When we reviewed the Rosti Roster cycling jeans in 2023, we found them to be comfortable and useful, if a little weird. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck's denim seems a bit more performance driven than this, and their riders will certainly stand out, even if they might look quite a lot like their big rivals Soudal Quick-Step.

This interview originally appeared in the 4 January issue of Cycling Weekly magazine. 

It seemed fitting that Jasper Philipsen eventually swapped his blue team issue kit for the green jersey of the Tour de France last summer once his hulk-like sprinting left him with the unofficial title of the fastest man in the world.

A trend rapidly developed in the opening week of the Tour and showed no sign of relenting as the race continued. The peloton surged into the final kilometre of stage three in the streets of Bayonne, with Alpecin leading the charge, before Philipsen - complete with an angry grimace - burst from Mathieu van der Poel’s wheel to punch his way to his first win of the race. 

Questions were once asked as to whether Peter Sagan was in fact Bruce Banner in disguise, although Philipsen’s form in 2023 soon revealed the incredible hulk of cycling’s true identity. 

Philipsen chalked up 19 individual victories last season - including his results at the Tour - which further underlined his claim to the fastest man throne. The 25-year-old was simply a cut above the rest and says he is aiming to replicate his form this year with the Paris Olympics on the horizon. 

Speaking exclusively to Cycling Weekly, Philipsen says lining up at the Olympics isn’t the be all and end all, which is just as well because given Belgium’s star-studded road race squad, he might not even make the start-line.

“I hope to be there, of course,” he says. “It's still a really long time away but I hope to be able to get to Paris and compete.” 

“There are an awful lot of good riders available,” he adds. “I just need to keep delivering like I have done, deliver results and show that I'm one of the strongest on this type of terrain that they have for the road race in Paris. That’s all I can do.” 

The character of top sprinters is that they’re loud, brash and shouting from the rooftops about their own brilliance. However, five minutes with the unassuming Philipsen reveals that he is the complete opposite - he regularly plays down his own success and steers away from superlatives. 

But when Paris-Roubaix comes up, Philipsen smiles and begins to talk himself up for the first time. His second place in the hallowed concrete velodrome, behind team-mate Mathieu van der Poel was notable because he beat far more seasoned Classics riders to a place on the podium. Cycling Weekly asks him if he can go one step further this year, “why not?” is the answer he gives in response. 

“We will have to see,” Philipsen says. “I know we will make some plans as a group in January but I think with how I've evolved as a rider it would be a good decision to look at the Classics. 

“Of course, the Tour de France again is a big goal, but hopefully I can fit some big Classics in as well, because I just love racing in them, it's a real passion of mine.”

Dreaming of Roubaix

“I think at the moment for me, a race like Flanders is too hard because it's too hilly but maybe in a few years I think I can compete there,” he adds. “I think the Classic that I'm most likely to win is probably Roubaix. I already showed that the race suits me… For sure, it's not impossible for me to go back and win there.”

Philipsen grew up in Mol, in Belgium’s east Flanders, the same province of Antwerp from which Tom Boonen emerged. 

Similarly to Boonen, and every other professional cyclist from the area, bike racing was thrust upon Philipsen from an early age. “It's just part of the culture, you grow up with it,” says Philipsen. “You watch it on TV all the time when you're young, so you want to be the same as the guys you see. 

“I actually did soccer first, but then switched to cycling, and I enjoyed it a lot more. I've just always liked physical sports. I always had more physical talent than technical talent. In soccer you need a bit more technical skill but I was just better at the physical stuff.” 

Philipsen’s prowess with the physical side of his sport eventually carried him to Axel Merckx’s renowned development team Hagens Berman Axeon. 

A year later UAE Team Emirates came calling, where he suited up alongside a future Tour de France winner. 

“I think they're now a bigger deal than they were back then,” Philipsen says of his former team. “Of course, being in a major WorldTour team also brings pressure as a young guy. I had no patience to wait to be the best cyclist that I could be, I was always impatient for that. I wanted to be where I am now already from the start, but it's not that easy. So I think the pressure was what I put on myself back then. 

“There was stress and impatience from myself to become the cyclist that I wanted to be.”

“So that was the biggest reason why I left UAE,” he adds. “They were clearly going to be a GC team with [Tadej] Pogačar. Tadej developed and had a bigger growth and improvement than me at the start.

“He was immediately there, racing at the highest level. I was there at a good level but not the highest. With my personal ambition, it was better to move onto Alpecin-Deceuninck.

“They focus more on the sprint's and Classics, and that's something I've always suited. Of course, there's Mathieu van der Poel on the team too, but the team cannot rely on one guy. I'm happy to be on a team with him, I think we compliment each other well.”

Life at Alpecin-Deceuninck

Philipsen soon reaped the rewards of making the jump. In 2021, at Alpecin, the Belgian won nine including two stages of the Vuelta a Espana. From there he has made steady progress each year, winning two stages at the Tour de France in 2022 before returning to dominate sprints and win four in 2023, on his way to the Tour’s green jersey and 19 race wins across the year.

Reflecting on his year of supremacy within the frenetic world of sprinting, Philipsen tells Cycling Weekly that paying attention to the psychological side of performance was what kept him at the top. 

“I think it's clear and we can say that it was my best year yet,” he says. “Staying mentally fresh was the key I think. At the start of the year we said that it was important that I maintained enjoyment with what I did throughout the year, and had fun during the season. Of course, you have highs and lows but that's inevitable. 

“It was also avoiding doing things in races and training that burn you out completely so that you can't keep that consistency and collapse after two or three races. That was something we tried to avoid and helped me to stay mentally fresh.”

That showed in the spring when, as well as achieving second place at Roubaix, Philipsen took two stage wins at Tirreno-Adriatico and won Scheldeprijs for a second time which proved the form was there as the Tour drew near. 

“I think already because of the way I started the season I could go into it with a lot of confidence,” he says. “Myself and Mathieu had a good, strong team around us so we could have some fun on the sprint stages and make ourselves hard to beat with the lead out that I had. 

“I think that's something that we will inevitably try to work on even more and take back next year so that we can deliver as a team again.” 

Tour de France domination

Looking back on the Tour, the 25-year-old highlights one stage win in particular as being symbolic and says it defined his rapidly growing identity as a racer. 

“I think my fourth stage was the nicest to win, the last one,” he says. “That's because there was a lot of pressure and commentary from outside of the team. A lot of people were saying he can't do it without Mathieu [van der Poel] or he can't stay on his own line or whatever. 

“I think that win erased that completely. I proved and showed everybody talking that it was wrong, and without Mathieu it was possible to win and it was also possible to win without being accused of doing an irregular sprint. 

“I always knew it was possible to do these things and that I had the power and strength to do it. And also to do it in a fair way of course. So that was fun.”

Nevertheless, despite Philipsen’s dominance on the flatter stages, a second stage win on the Champs-Élysées in Paris slipped through his fingers as Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) bested him to become a surprise winner. Philipsen admits that missing out on another win on the final day in the French capital hurt but explains that the intense three weeks of racing had started to take its toll. 

“It helped that I had won there before,” he says. “Maybe looking back at the last day in Paris, I was not physically so fresh anymore and could not hit my best effort in that finale.”

“At the end of the Tour I was mentally, or physically, not at my top level anymore,” he explains. “Always being there, fighting for the green jersey is harder than people think. Even if I had a good advantage, you're still always being kept busy with the jersey, and you're still thinking about it every day.” 

He adds: “I also thought that two weeks after, I had the World Championships in Scotland and wanted to save some of my best legs for then.”

With the green jersey in the bag, Philipsen’s hot streak continued post-Tour and his season ended with four stage wins at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. 

When we label him the ‘fastest man in the world’ heading into 2024 he demures. “This year is a new year again and there's also new, younger guys coming through. Also the older, more experienced ones that have been up there over the years are also still there at the top level and trying to win as much as possible. 

“I know we have a good team and we have a good mindset to try to repeat this as a group. But of course, this sport doesn't give you any guarantees. 

“So it's nice being the man to beat, but in 2024 but if you don't deliver any more then there is somebody else. So you try to stay on top, but it's the hardest thing to do.”

Jasper Philipsen is one of the fastest sprinters on the circuit right now. Born in the cycling heartlands of Belgium, he’s often overshadowed by Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert in his home country, but his palmarès speaks for itself.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider has won stages at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, and rode to a stunning second place at Paris-Roubaix in 2023 and 2024, and won his first Monument, Milan-San Remo, in 2024 too.

The Belgian goes into most sprints as a favourite. Here are 21 things you probably didn’t know about Jasper Philipsen.

1. His first sport was football, which he played often as a child.

2. As a youngster, he had a strong winning mentality. "It was always the same when I was young and playing football. When a game didn’t go how I wanted it to be going, I would be crying on the pitch," he said.

3. He had a BMX accident when he was 12 years old. His subsequent injuries made it difficult to continue playing football, so he turned his focus to cycling.

4. He joined his first team, Balen BC, in 2010.

5. Philipsen was the first person in his family to race bikes. "It was a learning process for all of us," he told Cyclingnews. "They would come and watch me race as a kid."

6. He was born in the same town as former world champion Tom Boonen - Mol, Belgium - which has a population of fewer than 40,000 inhabitants.

7. Boonen, understandably, was Philipsen's hero growing up, and he used to wear a replica of the Quick-Step rider's world champion jersey as a child. During the final years of Boonen's career, Philipsen would accompany him on training rides back home.

8. Like many Belgian riders, Philipsen has tried his hand at cyclo-cross. When he was 16, he raced the Zilvermeercross in his birthplace of Mol, and finished 31st - fourth from last.

9. In 2015, he won his first national title, triumphing in the individual time trial at the Belgian Junior National Championships. He successfully defended his title the following year.

10. Philipsen suffered exhaustion in the junior individual time trial at the 2016 World Championships in Doha, and as a result, did not start the road race three days later.

11. He turned pro in 2018 with Hagens Berman Axeon, the development team run by Axel Merckx, son of cycling great Eddy.

12. The Belgian has his own fan club, which has been supporting him with banners at races since 2016. The club now counts over 100 members.

13. He was not able to celebrate his first WorldTour victory, which came at the Tour Down Under in 2019. Initially second in the bunch sprint, Philipsen was declared the victor after Caleb Ewan was relegated.

14. At the 2023 Tour de France, the sprinter mistakenly celebrated when he crossed the line second on stage four, not knowing that Wout van Aert had broken away. "It will make for funny images in the end," he said afterwards.

15. His Alpecin-Deceuninck team call him Jasper 'The Disaster' Philipsen, due to his clumsiness.

16. His favourite one-day race is Paris-Roubaix, where he finished runner-up in 2023, beating Van Aert in a sprint. He repeated his result in 2024, beating Mads Pedersen.

17. He likes hip hop music, and warms up to Spotify's RapCaviar playlist.

18. He has won stages at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, but has never raced the Giro d'Italia.

19. Philipsen's girlfriend is 22 year-old Melanie Peetermans.

20. The race he has competed in the most is Scheldeprjs, the unofficial sprinter's World Championships, which he has won twice - in 2021 and 2023.

21. At the 2022 UAE Tour, the pace in the peloton was so calm that Philipsen stepped off his bike and jogged for a few meters through the desert.

Mathieu van der Poel is a man who has almost won everything within his powers.

The 30-year-old has won the World Championships, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix thrice, and the Tour of Flanders thrice, stages of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, over a glittering career.

The Dutchman has also been cyclo-cross world champion seven times, and likes to dabble in mountain biking too.

1. Mathieu was born in Belgium to a French mother and a Dutch father, but races under the Dutch flag

2. His grandfather on his mum’s side was Raymond Poulidor, “the Eternal Second”, who finished second in the Tour de France three times, and third place five times. The Frenchman died in 2019

3. His team honoured this at the 2021 Tour de France, wearing a special purple and yellow kit for the first stage that year, in the colour of the Mercier-BP-Hutchinson team

4. Both Van der Poel and Poulidor tasted victory at Milan-San Remo, as well as both claiming stage wins at the Tour de France, 50 years apart

5. He rode for the IKO Enertherm - BKCP club in 2012, a multi-gender group which also had three-time cyclo-cross world champion Sanne Cant on its roster

6. His dad is former Tour de France stage, Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Adri van der Poel

7. The wins that both Van der Poels share are stage victories at the Tour of Britain, Tour de France and and Tirreno-Adriatico, and victories at the Amstel Gold Race, the Dutch National Championships, Brabantse Pijl, the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race

8. He once took part in a race because he was bored. In October 2022, the Dutchman took part in the Giro del Veneto in the days between the Gravel World Championships and the Serenissima Gravel because he didn’t want to sit around in his hotel room

9. Mathieu van der Poel’s elder brother, David, was also a rider, with a single career victory, at the Tour Alsace in 2018

10. He first pulled on the cyclo-cross rainbow bands - as a junior - in 2012 at Koksijde, where he beat then man who would go on to become his main rival through his career, Wout van Aert

11. Van der Poel is not friends with Van Aert, his great rival. "They have never been close," Niels Albert, Van Aert's former coach, told Cyclingnews. "They would never really talk to each other at races, and especially not away from races.”

12. His first major road win came in 2013, when he won the Dutch National Championships as a junior, with the World Championship road race also coming his way that year

13. He loves the video game Fortnite so much that Shimano made a special pair of cycling shoes adorned with motifs from the battle royale-style phenomenon

14. He became the youngest ever cyclo-cross world champion when he won the World Championships in 2015, at 20 years and 13 days

15. His first senior road win came in 2014 at the Ronde van Limburg, but his first WorldTour win did not come until 2019 at Dwars door Vlaanderen

16. He hit 1362 watts on his way to storming to victory at Strade Bianche in 2021

17. He has never won a stage of a Grand Tour past stage two: his only wins came on stage two of the Tour de France in 2021 and stage one of the Giro d’Italia in 2022

18. He is only one of four riders to have won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, after his 2023 exploits

19. He is a brand ambassador for Lamborghini Antwerp, with his own Urus complete with specialised number plate

20. He has dabbled in mountain biking, winning the European Championships in 2019, and competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was at the Tokyo Olympics that he crashed and injured his back, an injury which has hampered him since

21. He was charged with two counts of common assault at the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, after a confrontation with two teenage girls. He was fined but the conviction was later quashed by an Australian court

British cyclist Alex Morrice and Italian Luca Vergallito have today been announced as the winners of the Zwift Academy and will join top-level cycling teams in 2023. 

The duo were among more than 160,000 riders who participated in this year’s competition, and have now won one-year contracts with Canyon-Sram and Alpecin-Deceuninck respectively. 

In a statement shared today, Zwift said: “Alex and Luca distinguished themselves for having exceptional athletic talent, impressive on-bike skills, and the necessary demeanour to learn what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of racing.”

This year, Zwift Academy contestants had to complete a baseline ride and eight workouts, testing their threshold power and VO2 max among other performance markers. Ten finalists were then selected, and travelled to Denia, Spain, where they met the team coaches and rode with their future team-mates. 

Morrice, 22, who competed this year for British team LDN - Brother, said: “It was such a privilege to get to go to Spain and spend a week with the incredible women on Canyon-Sram racing. 

“Everyone made me feel so welcome and I couldn’t be more excited to race alongside these ladies in 2023 and beyond.”

Canyon-Sram’s lead sports director Magnus Bäckstedt said he was “impressed during the whole week” by Morrice. 

“Alex impressed me with her current power numbers for the type of rider we were hoping to find for the team,” Bäckstedt said. “She also displayed a good understanding of tactics, with a real feeling for the race moment and she still has room to develop.”

Men's Academy winner Vergallito won the Italian junior road title in 2015, but cut back on his cycling in 2017 to concentrate on his studies. The 25-year-old will now join Alpecin-Deceuninck’s development team for the coming season. 

“Even for someone who lives so close to the heart of professional racing, it can be very hard to get noticed by the big teams,” Vergallito said. “I’m so grateful that Zwift gave me a way to get noticed.” 

Now in its seventh year, the Zwift Academy is an annual talent program, held on the indoor training and racing platform, that offers one male and one female rider the chance to win a pro contract. Previous winners include Tanja Erath, Neve Bradbury and Jay Vine, who won two stages at this year’s Vuelta a España.