Mathieu van der Poel on "pink cloud" as he shares more baby emotions just before the Tour de France

Great news this week from the soon-to-be Van der Poel-Bertels family. Mathieu van der Poel and his partner Roxanne Bertels announced just before the Tour de France that they are expecting their first child in January 2027. At the press conference ahead of the Tour de France, Van der Poel briefly touched on the subject again.

Using the term “bébé VDP,” Van der Poel and Bertels announced earlier this week that they will become parents to their first child in January. When we asked Van der Poel at the TopRiders Press Conference whether he was already on a “pink cloud,” a smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, we're obviously very happy about the news. But I think that feeling of euphoria will really set in after the baby is born," says Van der Poel, who will begin his sixth Tour de France on Saturday in Barcelona as a member of the Alpecin-Premier Tech team.

Nevertheless, Van der Poel is already hoping for a positive side effect from the good news. “Hopefully it will help me. Last year, the Tour started off very well for us, but unfortunately Jasper had a crash and I got sick myself. Hopefully we can do just as well at the start this year, but this time keep it up all the way to Paris,” said the Dutchman.

Van der Poel said that he would like to go for the yellow jersey early in the Tour, but knows it will be a difficult task. A stage win is his main goal, and he’d like to help his teammate Jasper Philipsen win the green jersey in Paris.

Alongside all the interviews conducted at the official press conference between journalists and riders, Luke Plapp decided to take matters into his own hands. The Australian spontaneously interviewed Mathieu van der Poel on the street, which resulted in some fantastic footage.

"Congratulations, you're having a baby," Plapp begins, offering his congratulations to Van der Poel rather bluntly. The Dutchman said he is very happy about it. "I'm very excited."

The Tour de Suisse also comes up briefly. Van der Poel put on a fantastic performance in the time trial there, though Tadej Pogacar narrowly beat him. “Impressive,” Plapp says.

"The time trial in Switzerland went really well," said MVDP, after which the Australian joked, "It would have been nice to have had a real time trial suit there, not just a road suit." Van der Poel responds: “I think my jersey was actually pretty fast in the end. At any rate, I didn’t burn out in the heat. So I was happy with it.”