The Race Mathieu van der Poel Still Can’t Win

Mathieu van der Poel has won almost everything there is to win in modern cycling, but there’s space reserved on his overflowing trophy case for one missing title.

Eight monuments, multiple world titles, cyclocross history, yellow jerseys, and 60 professional road victories clutter his palmarès and have cemented his legacy, yet the Dutch superstar remains fixated on one unfinished goal — the mountain bike world championship.

When asked if there’s one race he still dreams of winning, he is unequivocal.

“It is difficult, but the mountain bike world championships,” he told AS. “If I can only choose one, it would be that.”

For a superstar who’s dominated across disciplines, the importance of what he hasn’t yet won says a lot.

And his answer underscores just how strong the tug of mountain biking remains.

Despite balancing road racing and cyclocross at the highest level for nearly a decade, there is clearly still a place in MVDP’s heart for racing on the dirt.

At 31, Van der Poel is facing plenty more epic battles with Tadej Pogačar, but as he maps out the rest of 2026, it’s the XCO rainbow jersey that stands out as the primary target.

The timing will be tight, with the mountain bike worlds on August 30, soon after the Tour de France concludes in Paris on July 26, but he believes it is within reach.

“Yes, it is very possible. It is true that it is quite close to the end of the Tour de France, but I think I can arrive at a high level and give my best,” Van der Poel said.

With that, MVDP all but confirmed he will be at Val di Sole, Italy.

An historic gap in a stacked palmarès

Van der Poel has a magnetic draw toward mountain biking.

Growing up as cycling royalty — his grandfather was Tour de France legend Raymond Poulidor and his father Adrie was a classics star in his own right — it was the off-road adventures with his brother that drove his interest to take up the family business.

Though he’s made cyclocross history with eight world titles and earned millions on the pavement, it’s off-road that remains both a personal passion and a challenge.

Things haven’t always gone to script in his single-track adventures. Recent world championship starts in the elite fields in 2023 and 2025 ended badly, with a DNF and 29th, respectively.

The most infamous mishap came during the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, when he misread a drop, incorrectly believing that a ramp used during practice laps would still be deployed for the gold medal race.

Critics say he can never match the technical skills of today’s top mountain bike stars by dropping in a few times a year around his road calendar.

Double Olympic XCO gold medalist Tom Pidcock and double reigning world champion Alan Hatherly, who is now also racing full-time on the road with Jayco-AlUla, are ruling the off-road game right now.

To have any hope of winning the rainbow bands, he will have to beat them and a deep field of full-time specialists. Having a back-line starting position doesn’t help either.

Bronze in 2018 behind winner Nino Schurter proves that Van der Poel is capable of being in the rainbow jersey hunt when things go right.

But chasing the world title is also about making history across disciplines.

“The mountain bike world championships would be a historic victory because nobody won all the disciplines,” he told AS, referring to his other world titles in road, cyclocross and gravel.

Cementing a legacy

Speaking to AS, MVDP also reflected on his place in cycling history.

He is card-holding member of today’s golden generation that also includes Pogačar, Wout van Aert, Primož Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, the so-called “Big 6″ who have reshaped the DNA of modern racing.

“As part of a generation that changed cycling, the way of racing, attacking from the start to the finish,” Van der Poel said of his legacy. “It will be good that this type of racing is remembered.”

Even though Pogačar beat him this year at Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, MVDP relishes his battles with the world No. 1.

“Tadej is a very difficult opponent to beat. Everyone knows in cycling that, in most races, if you can beat Pogačar it means that you are very close to winning,” he said. “I will keep trying, I keep improving for that and I am convinced that I will be able to beat him again.”

Now firmly established as one of the modern greats, MVDP admits he enjoys the grind more than ever.

Not that he is talking about retirement — his current deal with Alpecin-Premier Tech runs through 2028 — but Van der Poel knows he is moving into the latter phase of his career.

“It is different. I like cycling more than before. I love long training, the final preparations for the objectives,” he said. “I love it, and also I live it with less pressure than in the past. Everything that comes now is a bonus for me.”

Whether he can race long enough to claim that elusive XCO world title remains an open question, but his next real shot could come as soon as this summer.