Less than four weeks after winning his eighth Cyclocross World Championship title, Mathieu van der Poel is at the starting line of the first Spring Classic. The Alpecin-Premier Tech team pro makes his season debut at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Opening Weekend. “After some intense weeks on the bike, he feels ready to race and will be at the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,” explains his team, Alpecin Premier-Tech.
For van der Poel, starting the Omloop is a double first: on the one hand, it’s his first road race of 2026, and on the other, he has never ridden this race in his career. In previous years, he always started the season a little later. In 2025, for example, at Le Samyn, which he also won.
After the Omloop, he will ride the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race. A familiar build-up to Milan-Sanremo, where he will start with bib number one as the defending champion.
This is followed by the E3 Saxo Classic, the “small Ronde.” A race where van der Poel has always been on the podium in his four participations, even at the top in 2024 and 2025. Two days later, the Alpecin-Premier-Tech pro will compete in “In Flanders Fields.” The Dutchman still has a score to settle with the former Gent-Wevelgem, as a victory here is still missing from his palmarès. In his last participation in 2024, he was beaten by Mads Pedersen in the sprint.
Then follow the two well-known Monuments, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where he will meet Tadej Pogacar in Flanders for the only time this season.
Spring Classics 2026: Mathieu van der Poel’s Race Program
- February 28: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- March 9 – 15: Tirreno-Adriatico
- March 21: Milan-Sanremo
- March 27: E3 Saxo Classic
- March 29: In Flanders Fields (formerly Gent-Wevelgem)
- April 5: Ronde van Vlaanderen
- April 12: Paris-Roubaix
