Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has credited his rivalry with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) as the single biggest driver of his elite performance, saying the Belgian's presence forces him to train and race without shortcuts.
Speaking on the WHOOP Podcast in February, Van der Poel was direct about what keeps him at the top. "It certainly motivates me. It's always good when you have to deal with a fierce competitor, because it brings you to another level," he said. "To have a fierce competitor who brings you to another level also makes you aware that you need to do everything 100% correct to try and beat him."
"If you just if you would win every race with two minutes in advance, I think it would be easy to say during the week, maybe I'll skip this gym session, or I'll do one rep less or one interval less on the bike because I have so much uh so much advantage that it's not really necessary," he added.
The two riders, born four months apart, have raced each other an estimated 200 times across cyclocross and road since their junior days. Their first major meeting came at the 2012 Junior Cyclocross World Championships, where Van der Poel took gold and Van Aert silver. The pattern has repeated, in various configurations, ever since.
He said that without a rival of Van Aert's calibre, a dominant rider might be tempted to skip sessions or dial back intensity. The threat of losing removes that option. "For sure it it brought not only me, I think it also brought him to the level we are," he said.
That level, for Van der Poel, now includes eight elite cyclocross world titles, eight Monument victories and the 2023 road world championship. His most recent major win came at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hulst on February 1, where he finished 35 seconds ahead of silver medalist Tibor del Grosso.
Stubbornness as method
Van der Poel also pointed to his own stubbornness as a formative trait, saying he has always preferred to follow his own intuition and "draw his own plan" rather than defer to rigid coaching structures. While many modern professionals lean heavily on data-driven programmes, Van der Poel's self-directed approach has shaped both his training philosophy and his willingness to take risks in races.
He is not anti-technology, however. On the same podcast, he shared WHOOP data showing an average resting heart rate of 38bpm, with a recorded low of 34bpm, and heart rate variability scores regularly exceeding 200. He has also cut alcohol and red meat from his diet, and uses magnesium supplements to aid recovery.
While the rivalry may look increasingly one-sided on paper, Van der Poel said the process of beating a rider like Van Aert, not the margin, is what sustains his standard.
