Chasing the rainbow jersey: Van der Poel's road Worlds preparations through the years

After becoming a two-time elite Cyclocross World Champion in 2015 and 2019, Mathieu van der Poel returned to the Road World Championships for the first time since turning professional. 

The Dutchman had previously won the junior road race in Florence, back in 2013, following a late attack which held off a chasing pack led by Mads Pedersen. 

Van der Poel’s return to the road worlds followed a notable 2019 campaign with Corendon Circus. On his debut at the Tour of Flanders, he finished fourth despite an untimely mechanical and crash, and also secured victories at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race.

In the weeks leading up to the Worlds in Harrogate, Van der Poel opted to race the Tour of Britain. It would prove to be a memorable edition of the British stage race after a closely fought contest for the GC between himself and Matteo Trentin. The Italian rider had beaten him in a sprint to win the European Championships in Glasgow just over a year earlier. 

The two riders matched each other closely throughout the race, both clearly in red-hot form, with Van der Poel claiming two stage wins and ultimately securing the race-winning green jersey by 17 seconds. 

Following a final preparation race at the Primus Classic in Belgium, just over a week before the main event, Van der Poel lined up for a rain-soaked race in Yorkshire, ready to shine. 

He successfully made the final five-rider selection in the inclement weather, alongside Trentin, Pedersen, Stefan Küng, and Gianni Moscon. This primed Van der Poel with a clear opportunity to join Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in winning both the cyclocross and road race world titles as an elite. 

However, in a stunning twist of fate, Van der Poel ran out of gas on the final lap with 13km remaining, and he was unable to stay in the wheels of the leading group, dashing his chances of victory. 

Van der Poel ultimately finished 43rd, while Pedersen won the final sprint over Trentin to claim what was a surprising victory at the time, at the end of an attritional edition of the Worlds.

In the summer of 2021, Van der Poel produced a dream performance on debut at the Tour de France, winning stage 2 on the Mûr-de-Bretagne and taking the yellow jersey in the process as he paid an emotional tribute to his legendary grandfather, Raymond Poulidor. 

The Dutchman would play his role in Tim Merlier’s first Tour stage win the following day before defending the yellow jersey during stage 5’s individual time trial. 

Van der Poel would eventually relinquish the race lead on stage 8 and abandon the following stage, bringing to an end his Grand Tour debut, with one eye on the Olympic Games. 

Van der Poel switched his attention to mountain biking in Tokyo, but things went awry when he crashed on a descent during the opening lap. He managed to remount and continue, but was forced to abandon, with the crash causing back problems.

This impacted his build-up for the road worlds, as he chose not to defend his Tour of Britain title (the 2020 edition was cancelled), and instead opted to race a selection of Belgian one-day races, with the Worlds taking place in Leuven. 

He beat Taco van der Hoorn to win the Antwerp Port Epic on 12 September, before more low-key results at the Primus Classic (8th) on 18 September and the Gooijse Pijl (46th) on 19 September, just a week before the road race in Leuven. 

Van der Poel would go on to finish 8th in Leuven in a highly competitive edition, won for the second consecutive year by Julian Alaphilippe. 

The Dutchman would also carry his form into the long-awaited return of Paris-Roubaix in the unusual slot of October, where he finished third in a memorable edition behind Sonny Colbrelli.

Following the success of his Tour de France debut the previous year, Van der Poel returned to the race in 2022, having already ridden the Giro d’Italia just weeks earlier, where he had won a stage and worn the pink jersey. 

Van der Poel would abandon the Tour on stage 11 to the Col du Granon, despite having made the day's breakaway.

After a month-long break from racing, Van der Poel returned at the Druivenkoers-Overijse before building towards the Worlds through a series of Belgian one-day races. He won the Stadsprijs Geraardsbergen and Izegem Koers before taking a hat-trick victory at the Grand Prix de Wallonie just 11 days before the Worlds in Wollongong, Australia.

He took part in the mixed relay event just four days before the road race, helping the Netherlands to fifth. However, his Worlds campaign would unravel before the main event had even begun.

On the night before the road race, Van der Poel became involved in an incident at his hotel which resulted in him being arrested and spending most of the night in custody before being released in the early hours of the morning.

While months later his conviction would be overturned, Van der Poel was unable to recover from the disruption in the moment. He abandoned the road race after just 34 kilometres, bringing an abrupt end to his Worlds bid.

2023 saw the inaugural edition of the “Super Worlds” take place in Glasgow, Scotland, with the elite men's road race situated just two weeks after the final stage of the Tour de France. 

Therefore, the Grande Boucle served as the Dutchman's main race preparation in his bid to become the first male rider to win both the elite road race and cyclocross world titles.

Van der Poel, who had spent the month of July supporting Jasper Philipsen to multiple stage wins and featuring in many breakaways, arrived at the Worlds with his Tour legs and duly delivered a masterclass to become the road race world champion.

After making a high-calibre lead group alongside Mads Pedersen, Tadej Pogačar and Wout van Aert, Van der Poel launched a thermonuclear attack, blowing the trio away and quickly catching and passing sole leader Alberto Bettiol. 

Even a crash in the closing kilometres couldn't stop Van der Poel from writing his name into the history books, on a day that just seemed destined to belong to him.

The 2024 Tour de France started slightly earlier than usual due to the Olympic Games in Paris. Van der Poel raced both, helping Philipsen to more wins at the Tour, before finishing the Olympic road race on 3 August in twelfth place.

With the Olympic Games almost two months before the Worlds on 29 September, Van der Poel still had plenty of racing left to prepare with before arriving in Switzerland to defend his rainbow jersey.

First, he would take part in the Renewi Tour, abandoning on the final stage to Geraardsbergen. From here, he quickly turned his attention to the European Championships in Hasselt on 15 September, where he helped Olav Kooij to a silver medal behind former Alpecin teammate Tim Merlier.

For his final preparation race, Van der Poel opted to make his debut at the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, and he started with a bang by winning the opening stage. 

Van der Poel would lead the GC into the final stage, but ultimately slipped to second as Antonio Tiberi broke clear to win the title by 15 seconds. 

After being written off by many due to the difficulty of the Worlds course in Zürich, with over 4,000m of elevation gain, Van der Poel would silence the doubts by securing a bronze medal, behind Tadej Pogačar and Ben O’Connor.

Van der Poel would also get his hands on a rainbow jersey one week later as he soloed to the gravel world title in Leuven, Belgium.

After skipping last year's championships in Kigali, Rwanda, to focus on the mountain bike worlds, Van der Poel is back and hunting a second road race title to add to the one he took in Glasgow three years ago.

This year, Van der Poel will return to the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg on Wednesday. He has had a recent focus on mountain biking, where he finished 30th in the cross-country World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, on 30 August.

Following the 2024 blueprint, the Montréal course has a similar feel to the one from two years ago in Zürich, with a similarly demanding amount of elevation gain and a distinct main climb on the circuit.

The Dutchman will be looking to find the form he had in July, which helped him win two stages at the Tour de France, including that epic victory on the Champs-Élysées, which was his last time racing on the road. 

“I have good memories of the Tour de Luxembourg from two years ago. I won a stage, came close a few more times and finished second overall,” said Van der Poel in a team statement released on Tuesday.

“More importantly, I had a good World Championships in Zürich afterwards, which showed that this race was a very good final preparation. I feel it can serve the same purpose this year ahead of the Worlds in Canada.”