The leader of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, Mathieu van der Poel, seems poised to explore a new discipline in his sporting career. Although he has already claimed world titles in road racing and cyclocross, Van der Poel recently lost a bet that could lead him to participate in an Ironman event.
YouTube channel bet
The Dutch cyclist made an appearance in a video on the Average Rob YouTube channel, which was the result of a previous bet made by Van der Poel on the same channel. The deal stipulated that if the original video reached 10,000 likes, Van der Poel would teach ‘Average Rob’ and ‘Arno the Kid’ how to ride a mountain bike.
New Challenge
With a subscriber base of over 400,000, the video unsurprisingly surpassed this goal, prompting Van der Poel to fulfill his promise. In his latest collaboration, titled ‘Becoming a Mountain Bike Champion with Mathieu van der Poel,’ Average Rob issued a new bet that Van der Poel would participate in an Ironman if the video reached 42,000 likes.
With hands on hips and a curious expression on his face, Van der Poel took only a brief moment to contemplate the challenge before smiling and affirming that he will keep the promise. With a total of 66,000 likes afterward, and considering Van der Poel’s integrity, we can anticipate that the Dutch cyclist will accept this monumental challenge.
His only concern, regarding the 3.8km of swimming, 180km of cycling, and 42.195km of running, is the logistics of when and how he will fit the event into his already busy schedule.
“But when?” Van der Poel asked. “It has to fit into the schedule.”
“You pick one, and we’ll go with you,” said Arno, before joking about how long he and Rob might take to finish the event. “You just have to wait seven hours at the finish, and then I’ll come.”