Junior career Dominance in cyclo-cross and first road race wins Van der Poel made his debut in cyclo-cross during the 2009–10 season, competing in the novices ranks. He won several local races, and at the National Championships in
Heerlen, Van der Poel finished in second place, fifteen seconds behind champion Erik Kramer. During the 2010–11 season, Van der Poel won all of the races that he contested; he also combined this with racing on the road in the summer of 2011, and won the Dutch Novice Time Trial Championships in
Zwartemeer. The following winter, Van der Poel advanced to the junior ranks, and was immediately dominant in this season; out of all the races he contested, he failed to finish first on only four occasions. He also claimed the junior titles at National,
European, and
World Championship level, each one by a convincing margin. During the 2012 road season, Van der Poel got his first general classification victory at the Ronde des Vallées; he also won the young rider classification at the same race. Van der Poel was a member of the
Dutch World Championship squad, when he competed in the junior road race; he finished within the 56-rider main group, and as the best-placed Dutch rider, in ninth position. Picking up where he left off the previous winter, Van der Poel's 2012–13 cyclo-cross campaign was flawless; he contested thirty races, and won every single one of them. Having defended his European title in the United Kingdom, Van der Poel maintained his Dutch title in
Hilvarenbeek on the same day that his brother David won the Under-23 Championships. In the 2013 road season, Van der Poel contested several Nations' Cup Juniors events for the Dutch national team. At the Course de la Paix, Van der Poel won the opening stage in a six-rider select group; he held the race lead into the following day, where
Mads Pedersen assumed the race lead for the remainder of the race in an individual time trial around
Třebenice. Van der Poel finished third, behind Pedersen and
Logan Owen. His next appearance came at the Grand Prix Général Patton, where he soloed – from remaining – to a six-second victory on the race's second and final stage in
Wincrange, en route to finishing second place overall, five seconds adrift of race-winner
Christoffer Lisson of Denmark. In the process, he also won the points and mountains sub-classifications. and defeated France's
Élie Gesbert in a head-to-head finish on the final stage, to take the overall race victory by almost half a minute from Gesbert. Prior to his next Nations Cup appearance, Van der Poel won the Dutch National Junior Road Race Championships in
Chaam. At the Trophée Centre Morbihan, Van der Poel won the race overall, having defended the race lead from the start, after winning a head-to-head sprint against Belarus'
Aleksandr Riabushenko on the opening stage. He won a three-rider sprint in
Bettwil to win the opening stage, where he would lead the
Dutch squad. In addition to competing in the road race, Van der Poel contested the junior time trial race for the Netherlands, along with
Sam Oomen. Van der Poel finished 50th out of the 84 riders to complete the course, over two minutes down on the eventual world champion
Igor Decraene of Belgium. In the road race, Van der Poel attacked on the final lap, and bridged up to the race leader
Franck Bonnamour of France; he later distanced him on the final climb of Via Salviati – around from the finish – and soloed away to win the gold medal,
Senior career at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Namur, 2015 Van der Poel moved into the under-23 category ahead of the 2013–14 cyclo-cross season. In his first race in the class, Van der Poel won the GP Mario De Clercq – in the
BPost Bank Trophy – at
Ronse, defeating nearest rival Gianni Vermeersch by twelve seconds. After he finished third in his first
World Cup race, Van der Poel won the second round of the season at
Tábor in the Czech Republic, beating Vermeersch once again by three seconds. In the process, Van der Poel became the first rider since
Niels Albert in 2004 to take an under-23 race victory as a first-year rider. He completed a clean sweep of victories in the major cyclo-cross competitions, by winning at
Ruddervoorde in the
Superprestige the following day, leading home his rivals by almost a minute. He won a silver medal at the
UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships in
Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic, finishing 23 seconds behind winner Michael Vanthourenhout. Van der Poel turned professional with the team at the start of the 2014 season, joining brother David at the squad, having signed a four-year contract. Prior to doing so, Van der Poel made his elite debut in the
Scheldecross Antwerpen, in December 2013; Van der Poel was competing alongside professionals as there was no under-23 race. He finished second in the race, five seconds behind his future teammate
Niels Albert, having dropped
Philipp Walsleben and
Rob Peeters in the closing stages. He again finished second to Albert ten days later in the
Grand Prix De Ster Sint-Niklaas, losing out in a two-man sprint finish. He ended 2013 with his fourth Superprestige victory of the season at
Diegem. in
Albstadt After finishing second to
Wout van Aert in his opening race of 2014 at the
Grand Prix Sven Nys, Van der Poel secured the overall under-23 World Cup title with his fourth win of the season, at the
Memorial Romano Scotti in Rome. He achieved his first professional victory at the Boels Classic Internationale Cyclo-cross in
Heerlen, beating closest rivals Thijs van Amerongen and
Rob Peeters. In his first senior road race, Van der Poel finished seventh in the
Omloop der Kempen, which had finished in a sprint to the line in
Veldhoven. Just a few weeks later he secured his first professional victory on the road, winning the
Ronde van Limburg. He began to compete in the
cross-country cycling discipline of the sport having set his sights on the
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In 2017 he placed 2nd in the World Cup at
Albstadt behind world champion
Nino Schurter. In 2018 he raced a full World Cup season finishing 2nd in the series overall and 3rd at the
World Championships in
Lenzerheide, as well as winning the Dutch National Championship. At the
2018 European Cycling Championships in
Glasgow, Van der Poel competed in the cross-country mountain bike and the road race, winning a silver medal in the latter.
2019 – first classics victories Van der Poel won the
2019 Dwars door Vlaanderen. In March 2019, van der Poel won the
2019 Grand Prix de Denain. He attacked from a leading group of three riders, including
Alex Kirsch of Luxembourg and and Estonian
Mihkel Räim of , and rode over eight kilometers solo to the finish. At the
2019 Amstel Gold Race, van der Poel was the first of the favourites to attack at 43 km to the finish together with
Gorka Izagirre, but their attempt was brought back by the peloton soon after. After the final ascent of the
Cauberg,
Julian Alaphilippe and
Jakob Fuglsang had a lead of 30 seconds over the two chasers and nearly a minute over the group behind. With 3 km to go their lead was up to 40 seconds over
Michał Kwiatkowski. At that point, the two in front stopped collaborating with each other, attempting to conserve energy for their final sprint. However, they were then caught in the last kilometer, first by Kwiatkowski and then by the other chase group led by Van der Poel. In the ensuing sprint, Van der Poel proved to be the strongest
2020 – first Tour of Flanders win In October, van der Poel won the
2020 Tour of Flanders, by outsprinting Wout van Aert. The pair had broken away with Julian Alaphillipe before the latter crashed out in an incident involving a race motorcycle.
2021 – Tour de France stage win and yellow jersey in the
2021 Tour de France In 2021, Van der Poel competed in his first grand tour, the
2021 Tour de France. Here he succeeded in winning the second stage and acquired the yellow jersey, which he wore for six days. He also secured the King of the Mountain jersey on that stage, which he held for a single day. Van der Poel participated in the
Mountain Biking event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The event had seven laps, but he crashed on a descent in the first lap, as he was apparently unaware that a ramp, present during practice, had been removed. He managed to continue racing, but eventually pulled out after the sixth lap, unable to make up lost time. Due to persistent back problems, worsened by his Olympic crash, Van der Poel did not defend his title at the
2021 Tour of Britain. He won the 2021 edition of the
Antwerp Port Epic, which he used as a trial run for the UCI World Championships. He came eighth at the
2021 UCI Road World Championships and finished his road season in the
2021 Paris–Roubaix where he took the final podium place covered head to toe in mud. He put an initial hold on his cyclocross season due to his continued back pain, and eventually raced twice before pulling out altogether. At his first race, the Dendermonde World Cup, he finished second behind
Wout van Aert. In his second and final race of the season, he crashed early on and pulled out after seven laps. In September 2021, he renewed his contract with Alpecin–Fenix until 2025.
2022 – second Tour of Flanders win After three months of rest due to his back pain, Van der Poel began his 2022 season at
Milan–San Remo, where he finished third. He rode in the
Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, a five-day stage race, where he won the fourth stage. He won the
Dwars door Vlaanderen. At the
Ronde van Vlaanderen,
Tadej Pogačar, making his debut at the race, attacked on the second ascent of
Oude Kwaremont and the
Koppenberg to pull ahead of the peloton with a select group of riders including van der Poel. Pogačar accelerated twice more on the final ascent of Oude Kwaremont and the
Paterberg with only van der Poel able to go with him. The duo rode slowly inside the final kilometre as they prepared for the sprint but this action allowed
Dylan van Baarle and
Valentin Madouas to come back in the final few hundred metres before van der Poel took the win in the sprint finish. After a fourth in
Amstel Gold Race and a ninth in
Paris–Roubaix, Van der Poel made his first appearance at the
Giro d'Italia, the second Grand Tour participation of his career. He won the opening stage and wore the pink leader's jersey for three stages. He also won the overall Combativity Award. In September, Van der Poel was convicted of
common assault against two girls aged 13 and 14, after an incident in a hotel in
Sydney the night before the
Road World Championship; the conviction was overturned following appeal in December.
2023 – Road World Champion Van der Poel began his 2023 season with a win at the X20 Trofee Herentals cyclocross race. He followed this up with two further wins and two silver medals before taking part in the
UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, which he won for a fifth time after a tight sprint against Wout van Aert. At
Milan–San Remo, Van der Poel attacked at the top of the
Poggio di San Remo, leaving his main rivals
Wout van Aert,
Tadej Pogačar and
Filippo Ganna behind and soloing into the finish in San Remo. In April, Van der Poel won
Paris-Roubaix, setting a new record of 46.841 km/h, an improvement of more than 1 km/h over the previous record, and finished second in the
Tour of Flanders. On 6 August 2023, van der Poel won the
elite men's road race at the
2023 UCI Road World Championships, held in Glasgow as part of the inaugural
UCI Cycling World Championships. Van der Poel attacked the leading group of riders including van Aert, Pogacar and
Mads Pedersen in the closing laps and despite suffering a crash and damaging his shoe was able to extend his lead to take solo victory.
2024 – Roubaix–Flanders double Van der Poel began his 2024 road season at
Milan–San Remo, where Van der Poel rode for his teammate
Jasper Philipsen, following
Tadej Pogačar's attacks over the top of the Poggio and pacing the final lead in to San Remo, where Philipsen sprinted for the win. Van der Poel had a strong
cobbled classics season, winning the
E3 Saxo Classic, finishing second at
Gent–Wevelgem, and then winning the
Tour of Flanders for a record-tying third time. The next week, Van der Poel won
Paris-Roubaix for the second consecutive year. Returning to defend his title, Van der Poel finished third, claiming the bronze medal at the
2024 UCI Road World Championships, after winning the sprint for third place in the group behind winner Pogačar and silver medalist
Ben O'Connor. In October, Van der Poel won the
UCI Gravel World Championships, dropping breakaway companion
Florian Vermeersch with 13 km to go and winning solo with over a minute gap. This marked Van der Poel's eighth world championship across three different disciplines.
2025 – second Milan–San Remo win During the winter cyclo-cross season, Van der Poel won every race he participated in, culminating in winning the
world championships in
Liévin. Van der Poel led for the majority of the race, finishing 45 seconds ahead of rival
Wout van Aert. It was Van der Poel's seventh world championship, tying the record of
Erik De Vlaeminck. Van der Poel began his road season in March at the
Ename Samyn Classic, which he won in a bunch sprint. Van der Poel won the
2025 Milan-San Remo, out-sprinting
Filippo Ganna and
Tadej Pogačar after following Pogačar's attack on the
Cipressa with 25 km to go. It was van der Poel's second win at the race, and seventh
monument of his career. He secured his eighth monument victory with a win in
Paris-Roubaix after riding solo away from the fallen Pogačar with 38 kilometers to go, eventually winning by over a minute. He became the third rider in the race's history to win three consecutive editions. Van Der Poel returned to cross-country mountain bike racing at the
2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race in Nove Mesto, Czechia, but exited the race less than halfway through after crashing twice, with the second crash resulting in a fractured
scaphoid bone. He vowed to continue preparation for the world championships despite the setback. Despite the injury, Van Der Poel returned in time for his planned participation in the
Critérium du Dauphiné. He finished inside the top 10 of all but two of the seven stages, At the
2025 Tour de France, Van Der Poel helped lead out
Jasper Philipsen to the stage 1 victory before winning stage 2 in a sprint against
Tadej Pogačar and
Jonas Vingegaard, claiming his first win at the tour in four years and the yellow jersey in the process for the second time of his career. ==Rivalries==