Mathieu van der Poel signs contract extension with Alpecin-Fenix until 2025

Mathieu van der Poel will continue racing with Alpecin-Fenix for four more seasons.

The Dutch sensation has ridden with the Belgian team for the past decade and has enjoyed repeated success across the three disciplines of cyclocross, road racing and mountain biking.

Despite Alpecin-Fenix operating as a second-tier ProTeam outfit, meaning that they don't automatically get entered into WorldTour events unless they are the division's best-ranked team the previous season, Van der Poel is set to continue his relationship with them until the end of 2025.

"I’m very happy to have signed this long-term contract with a team that feels like my second family," he said.

"I’m really enjoying myself at Alpecin-Fenix. The team has developed fantastically in the last years – simultaneously with the progress I’ve been making – and are still getting better and stronger each year.

"It's quite unique that I've been riding for the same team for so long and that I'll continue to do so for another four years. Who knows I will have raced for only one team in my entire career?"

The four-time cyclocross world champion has taken the road scene by storm in the past three seasons, most notably winning 2020's delayed Tour of Flanders and leading the Tour de France for six stages this summer.

Though currently recovering from a back injury that was aggravated at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics mountain bike race, Van der Poel is set to return to racing shortly and made the announcement on his future with the World Road Race Championships just three weeks away. 

He isn't, however, prepared to forgo his 'cross and mountain biking commitments and has ambitions on winning the gold medal in the mountain bike event at the next Olympics in 2024.

"I try not to think too far ahead but becoming world champion in three different disciplines in the coming years would be a dream come true. I’ll most likely continue to combine road cycling, cyclocross and mountain bike until Paris 2024.”

In the coming months Van der Poel hopes to be fit enough to contest the road Worlds in Flanders and then Paris-Roubaix the week after, before switching his attention to cyclocross.