Mathieu Approves: Van der Poel sees Van Avermaet crowned World Champion and trains with his father Adrie

What’s good these days is coming out of Spain. The road season may be over, but elite performances are still popping up in November. On Sunday in Marbella, Greg Van Avermaet became world champion in the men’s 40–44 category at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Mathieu van der Poel will have nodded in approval.

Van Avermaet has trained hard in recent months to deliver on Spanish soil. The now 40-year-old Belgian ended his pro cycling career after 2023, but he clearly didn’t put his feet up. In 2024 he already completed the 70.3 in Knokke. “Just for fun,” he said about that.

In Marbella, though, Van Avermaet wanted a truly strong result. “I’d qualified for Worlds here thanks to Knokke. I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s been a great trip so far. I feel I’m getting better, especially in the swim and the run. Let’s see what Sunday brings on the road. I’m nervous about the unknown, but hungry for more.”

We’ve seen plenty of Van Avermaet on the gravel bike in recent years, but perhaps triathlon really is a compelling Plan B. The Belgian swam just under 2 kilometres, rode 90 kilometres and closed with a 21-kilometre half marathon. His finish time was 4:15:56, a full five minutes ahead of Wolfgang Teuchner.

A little further up the south-east Spanish mainland, Van der Poel was in his apartment watching the World Championships half marathon on TV, as he shared on Instagram. No surprise: the Alpecin–Deceuninck star has been training regularly with Van Avermaet in recent weeks — all three disciplines. The swimming went well, but on the run, Van Avermaet made his good friend suffer badly. 

So yes, Van der Poel saw it was good on TV, with Van Avermaet’s age-group rainbow. But he wasn’t idle himself. He’s been training full-gas for several weeks now, often with another good friend: Freddy Ovett (regular training partner of MVDP in Spain). On Friday the pair were joined by none other than Adrie van der Poel, Mathieu’s father.

On Strava, Van der Poel logged an impressive 143.2-kilometre ride with over 1,700 metres of climbing. In just under five hours, he burned more than 3,500 calories. The ride file was painted gold with personal records — no doubt helped by the pacemaking of Ovett and his father. Still, Adrie’s numbers speak for themselves. Chapeau!