Cycling's ultimate showman arrives in Barcelona having made history in February, soloing to a record eighth cyclocross world title in Hulst to break Erik De Vlaeminck's 53-year-old mark. His 2026 spring brought wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a third straight E3 after a 64km solo, though the Monuments escaped him this time. At the Tour he plays a double game — monster lead-out for Philipsen one day, predator on the punchy stages the next — with news that he and partner Roxanne Bertels are expecting their first child adding extra sparkle.
Palmarès
- Road World Champion (2023)
- Paris–Roubaix winner (2023, 2024, 2025)
- Tour of Flanders winner (2020, 2022, 2024)
- Milan–San Remo winner (2023, 2025)
- Record 8× Cyclocross World Champion (2015, 2019–2021, 2023–2026)
- Tour de France stage winner and yellow jersey (2021, 2025)
Cut-out factHis grandfather Raymond Poulidor, France's 'eternal second', never wore the yellow jersey in 14 Tours — Mathieu took it in his very first Tour stage win at Mûr-de-Bretagne in 2021 and dedicated it to him.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Ramses Debruyne, Silvan Dillier, Tim Marsman, Jasper Philipsen, Edward Planckaert, Jonas Rickaert, Emiel Verstrynge — see the full Alpecin–Premier Tech team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: MFonzatti, license: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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