Greg Van Avermaet emphasises that Mathieu van der Poel’s 'super legs' don’t come on demand

Van Avermaet has trained regularly this winter with Van der Poel, although rarely on the bike. He did get the Dutchman from Alpecin-Premier Tech to jump into the sea multiple times, and Van der Poel has also been good at running for years. In fact, thanks to more than 100,000 likes on an Instagram post, Van der Poel must one day in principle do a triathlon.

According to Van Avermaet, Van der Poel will indeed keep his word one day, even though he is currently still a full-time pro as a cyclo-cross and road rider. In 2025 he also added mountain biking again. According to Van Avermaet, it is no surprise that focused training is still needed if Van der Poel is to avoid making a fool of himself in a possible triathlon.

“At his swimming technique there is still work to be done, but I think he averaged 3 minutes 30 seconds over 10 kilometres. That is very fast,” said the Belgian, who recently won a triathlon in his own age group. He thinks he has discovered a similar mindset in Van der Poel. “If Mathieu will participate, it won’t be to come fifty-fifth. So he won’t just try it.”

This illustrates the competitive beast in Van der Poel, who just last Sunday turned up at the cyclo-cross in Benidorm even though he initially was going to skip it. The explanation was “too much desire”. And Van der Poel immediately won convincingly on the Spanish coast, bringing his winter tally to ten wins from ten cross races.

That Van der Poel likes to win is a certainty. And that for years he has dominated on his favourite terrain is an understatement. Yet Van Avermaet stresses that it doesn’t necessarily come easily for his good friend. “Wonder legs don’t come on demand,” the former pro said — even the cyclo-cross world champion has to work extremely hard for them.

According to Van Avermaet, Van der Poel is willing to go for a run at 06:00 if the Belgian wants that. “And imagine 07:00 — then he is ready at 06:50,” he said admiringly. Van der Poel thus impresses with his work ethic and structure. “Mathieu has already won so much, but there is no sign of a rut in him.”