Michel Cornelisse, a former Alpecin-Deceuninck sports director now working at UAE Team ADQ, has recalled a training session in Calpe, Spain, during which Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rode roughly 30 kilometres clear of his own professional teammates.
Speaking on the De Grote Plaat podcast, Cornelisse recalled a ride where Van der Poel maintained an average speed of 38 km/h riding solo, while the rest of the Alpecin squad held 33 km/h as a group.
"Mathieu rode 38 kilometres per hour on his own and they rode 33 kilometres per hour with the whole squad," Cornelisse said. "On a long training session, Mathieu had ridden more than thirty kilometres away from them."
The team group would have benefited from drafting, making the power disparity considerable to achieve such a significant time gap. The conversation highlighted how dramatic training intensity and pace had become compared to previous generations of riders.
"I heard Adrie van der Poel talking before the World Championships in Hulst," podcast host John den Braber recalled. "He said: look at these riders’ Strava – they’re riding 200 km at a 38 km/h average."
Cornelisse, who worked alongside Van der Poel during the Dutchman's formative WorldTour seasons at Alpecin-Fenix (now Alpecin-Deceuninck), said the training disparity is visible on race day. "You naturally see that reflected in the races," he said.
He also observed that Van der Poel tends to race only when he feels he is at full capacity, a selectivity that contributes to a high win-to-start ratio across his career.
Calpe, on Spain's Costa Blanca, is a popular winter training base for professional cycling teams. Detailed training data from camps is rarely published, though fans will increasingly dissect the data-restricted Strava files that leaks out of such training camps.
Cornelisse added that Van der Poel's sprint finish remains a significant obstacle for rivals in the cobbled Monuments, including Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who would need to find ways to neutralise that advantage in head-to-head finishes.
"He [Pogačar] often runs into Van der Poel," Cornelisse said. "Who maybe has a slightly better final sprint than him – so it’s always difficult."
Cover image credit: A.S.O./Charly López
