Mathieu van der Poel, the current men’s road world champion, has signed a new five-year contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck, which will keep him riding for the Belgian team until the end of the 2028 season.
The Dutchman signed the new deal after he was instrumental in the team’s second successive Milan-San Remo victory last weekend. Van der Poel gave a sterling lead-out for Jasper Philipsen to triumph on the Via Roma, outsprinting both Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogačar for the win.
As well as his new contract with the team run by brothers Philip and Christoph Roodhooft, Van der Poel also signed a new ten-year contract as an ambassador for Canyon bikes, who are also Alpecin’s long-term bike partner.
Van der Poel's new deal is the latest in a recent series of long-term contracts in cycling. His previous contract with his team was set to expire at the end of the 2025 season.
"This extension is a logical choice for me," Van der Poel said. "I have felt particularly comfortable in the structures of Philip and Christoph Roodhooft from the beginning. I have grown together with the team and I still feel that we are making progress. And although we have already achieved many successes together, I am still hungry for more.
"Not unimportant in the fact is that Alpecin-Deceuninck is also multi-disciplinary. This is the perfect team to continue to combine road, mountain bike and cyclocross."
Van der Poel made his first steps in cycling in the colours of the Roodhooft brothers' team. According to a press release from Alpecin-Deceuninck, the new agreement means that Van der Poel will have ridden under their stewardship for “no less than 18 years”.
The release also states that, at the end of the 2028 season, Van der Poel will decide on a year by year basis whether to continue professionally riding on the road at that point.
"There is no doubt that we are delighted with Mathieu van der Poel's extended agreement," the Roodhoofts said. "We had a long-term plan with him from the beginning. The multidisciplinary vision was an important aspect of this. We quickly found each other in that as well.
"Over the years we have proven that our structure and vision works. It feels particularly good that we can also continue in the coming years. Just like Mathieu, we as a team are still hungry for more successes, and the world champion plays an important role in that, along with a number of other talents we have on board, both in the men's and women's teams."
Van der Poel made his 2024 road season debut at Milan-San Remo. The world champion chased down a series of late attacks from Pogačar, Matej Mohorič and Tom Pidcock in order to tee up Philipsen for the win.
The Dutchman is expected to target the Tour of Flanders once more in the weeks ahead and will also look to defend the Paris-Roubaix title that he won last year.
