175 kilometres on his own: Mathieu van der Poel makes a historic statement ahead of the World Championships

​Cycling is a team sport. Domestiques control breakaways, close gaps and guide their captains through the race whilst conserving as much energy as possible. Those who ride alone, on the other hand, are not only battling against the competition, but also against the wind. This makes what Mathieu van der Poel achieved on the final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg all the more extraordinary: the Dutchman rode 175 kilometres alone at the front and made a massive statement a week before the World Road Championships in Montréal.

Yet this show of strength was apparently not even planned. “It wasn’t the plan to attack on my own right from the start,” Mathieu van der Poel explained afterwards. Once the unusual race situation had arisen early on, he simply carried on riding. At times, the Dutchman said he still expected the chasing pack to catch up with him. Instead, his lead grew, and the spontaneous breakaway turned into a historic solo ride.

175 out of 177 kilometres on my own

Just how extraordinary this performance was is evident from the ratio of the solo distance to the stage length. The fifth and final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg covered 177 kilometres, 175 of which Mathieu van der Poel spent alone at the front. His lead peaked at just under four minutes. At the finish line, he still managed to hold on to a 1:04 lead over the runner-up, Mikkel Honoré.

But it is not just in relation to the stage length that this breakaway has reached extraordinary proportions. According to research by various media outlets, there has been no longer successful solo ride in road cycling this millennium. The previous record for this millennium was held by David McKenzie, who won the seventh stage of the 2000 Giro d’Italia after riding solo for 164 kilometres.

Although there have been longer successful solo rides throughout the history of cycling, Mathieu van der Poel’s achievement is unprecedented in modern cycling. Since the early 2000s, no successful breakaway attempt over a longer distance has been completed solo.

Even compared to the Dutchman’s previous attacks, this ride defies all expectations. His previous longest solo victory was Paris–Roubaix in 2024, when he rode alone for just under 60 kilometres. Even Tadej Pogacar, whose spectacular long-range attacks have been shaping modern cycling for some time now, falls short with his 81 kilometres at Strade Bianche 2024 not even close to the 175 kilometres now covered by Mathieu van der Poel – although, of course, the competitive situation is different when comparing the two races.

Doubts about his World Cup form have been impressively dispelled

For Mathieu van der Poel, the timing of such a performance could hardly have been more striking. The Tour de Luxembourg served as his dress rehearsal for the World Championships road race this coming Sunday in Montréal. Prior to this, there had certainly been some doubts about his form. Although he had already won the opening stage in Luxembourg, on the gruelling queen stage – with nearly 3,000 metres of climbing – he lost 7:07 minutes to the stage winner, Pepijn Reinderink. In the general classification, he ultimately finished 19th, 8 minutes and 23 seconds behind overall winner Davide Piganzoli.

Mathieu van der Poel himself offered an explanation for this. He said he had come to Luxembourg from a training camp in Spain and had perhaps trained a little too hard there. That was another reason why his legs hadn’t been at the desired level in the days leading up to his solo victory. That changed abruptly on the final stage: “Today my legs felt incredible, but it was a different story in the days leading up to it,” he said after his triumph.

The 175-kilometre race thus provides, at the very least, a striking indication that his form is on the up in the run-up to the season’s highlight. After all, the solo ride required not only a brief, explosive attack but also an exceptionally long period of sustained effort. Van der Poel is not travelling to North America until this week and has therefore skipped the previous races in Québec and Montréal, which some of his World Championship rivals competed in.

Heading to Montréal with a record-breaking solo under his belt

Just how much the Luxembourg solo victory is actually worth in terms of the World Championships will only become clear in the road race. However, van der Poel has made it abundantly clear that, given his preparation, he is capable of an outstanding performance. In Montréal, the 2023 world champion will face off against Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro, Paul Seixas and Wout van Aert, amongst others.

Above all, however, it is the nature of this victory that is likely to have made a lasting impression. A competitor who can ride 98.9 per cent of a 177-kilometre stage alone at the front and still win by a margin of more than a minute is someone the other nations will find it hard to take their eyes off at the World Championships.

What began as an attack that, by his own admission, was completely unplanned, turned out to be one of the most extraordinary solo rides in modern cycling. 175 kilometres on his own – the longest successful solo ride of this millennium, and just seven days before the World Championships road race: van der Poel could hardly have underlined his ambitions for Montréal more impressively.