How Van der Poel’s special partnership with the Roodhooft brothers began: “It looked so easy”

“The first time Mathieu was with us, he was 15 years old. Now he’s 31,” Philip Roodhooft looks back on his time with Van der Poel on Alpecin-Premier Tech’s YouTube channel. At that age, the young Van der Poel was taking his first real steps towards professional cycling — and even then it was obvious just how much talent he had. Only four years later, the Dutchman won his first race at the age of 19.

Brother Christoph also remembers those early years vividly. “I can still remember the moment Mathieu van der Poel joined our team, and how easily he was winning road races already. At first we thought: alright then… but at a certain point he was beating Philippe Gilbert in the Belgium Tour.”

“In Tongeren he won his first big race, against Paul Martens I think,” the Belgian continues. “It looked so easy — and it probably was. I think he could already decide for himself at that moment whether he was going to win or not. My brother and I said: if we want to keep this guy, we have to challenge him — ride bigger races and grow as a team.”

It was the start of a major project. “We took a new step, and that step forced us to take another one. The next step forced us to take 10 more steps. That’s how we got to where we are. It wasn’t completely the plan, but in the beginning it was just great fun — and then suddenly we were where we are now.”

Van der Poel considers himself fortunate to be part of a team he has been with for so long. “We have a unique story together. We grew up together through cyclo-cross, all the way to the road team we now have in the WorldTour. It hasn’t always been easy for them, I think, so I’m very happy that they still support me.”

The evolution from BKCP-Powerplus to Beobank-Corendon and now Alpecin-Premier Tech is striking — but for the Dutchman, not that much has changed. “The reason I’ve been here so long is because I feel at home. It feels more like family than work. We’ve experienced a lot of success but also disappointment together. I think we’ve always supported each other, and that’s a nice feeling.”