Senior career
Van der Poel moved into the under-23 category ahead of the 2013–14 cyclo-cross season. In his first race in the class, Van der Poel won the GP Mario De Clercq – in the BPost Bank Trophy – at Ronse, defeating nearest rival Gianni Vermeersch by twelve seconds. After he finished third in his first World Cup race, Van der Poel won the second round of the season at Tábor in the Czech Republic, beating Vermeersch once again by three seconds. In the process, Van der Poel became the first rider since Niels Albert in 2004 to take an under-23 race victory as a first-year rider. He completed a clean sweep of victories in the major cyclo-cross competitions, by winning at Ruddervoorde in the Superprestige the following day, leading home his rivals by almost a minute. He won a silver medal at the UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships in Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic, finishing 23 seconds behind winner Michael Vanthourenhout.
Van der Poel turned professional with the BKCP–Powerplus team at the start of the 2014 season, joining brother David at the squad, having signed a four-year contract. Prior to doing so, Van der Poel made his elite debut in the Scheldecross Antwerpen, in December 2013; Van der Poel was competing alongside professionals as there was no under-23 race. He finished second in the race, five seconds behind his future teammate Niels Albert, having dropped Philipp Walsleben and Rob Peeters in the closing stages. He again finished second to Albert ten days later in the Grand Prix De Ster Sint-Niklaas, losing out in a two-man sprint finish. He ended 2013 with his fourth Superprestige victory of the season at Diegem.
After finishing second to Wout van Aert in his opening race of 2014 at the Grand Prix Sven Nys, Van der Poel secured the overall under-23 World Cup title with his fourth win of the season, at the Memorial Romano Scotti in Rome. He achieved his first professional victory at the Boels Classic Internationale Cyclo-cross in Heerlen, beating closest rivals Thijs van Amerongen and Rob Peeters. In his first senior road race, Van der Poel finished seventh in the Omloop der Kempen, which had finished in a sprint to the line in Veldhoven. Just a few weeks later he secured his first professional victory on the road, winning the Ronde van Limburg.
He began to compete in the cross-country cycling discipline of the sport having set his sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In 2017 he placed 2nd in the World Cup at Albstadt behind world champion Nino Schurter. In 2018 he raced a full World Cup season finishing 2nd in the series overall and 3rd at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, as well as winning the Dutch National Championship.
At the 2018 European Cycling Championships in Glasgow, Van der Poel competed in the cross-country mountain bike and the road race, winning a silver medal in the latter.
Van der Poel won the 2019 Dwars door Vlaanderen.
In March 2019, van der Poel won the 2019 Grand Prix de Denain. He attacked from a leading group of three riders, including Alex Kirsch of Luxembourg and Trek–Segafredo and Estonian Mihkel Räim of Israel Cycling Academy, and rode over eight kilometers solo to the finish.
At the 2019 Amstel Gold Race, van der Poel was the first of the favourites to attack at 43 km to the finish together with Gorka Izagirre, but their attempt was brought back by the peloton soon after. After the final ascent of the Cauberg, Julian Alaphilippe and Jakob Fuglsang had a lead of 30 seconds over the two chasers and nearly a minute over the group behind. With 3 km to go their lead was up to 40 seconds over Michał Kwiatkowski. At that point, the two in front stopped collaborating with each other, attempting to conserve energy for their final sprint. However, they were then caught in the last kilometer, first by Kwiatkowski and then by the other chase group led by Van der Poel. In the ensuing sprint, Van der Poel proved to be the strongest
In October, van der Poel won the 2020 Tour of Flanders, by outsprinting Wout van Aert. The pair had broken away with Julian Alaphillipe before the latter crashed out in an incident involving a race motorcycle.
In 2021, Van der Poel competed in his first grand tour, the 2021 Tour de France. Here he succeeded in winning the second stage and acquired the yellow jersey, which he wore for six days. He also secured the King of the Mountain jersey on that stage, which he held for a single day.
Van der Poel participated in the Mountain Biking event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The event had seven laps, but he crashed on a descent in the first lap, as he was apparently unaware that a ramp, present during practice, had been removed. He managed to continue racing, but eventually pulled out after the sixth lap, unable to make up lost time.
Due to persistent back problems, worsened by his Olympic crash, Van der Poel did not defend his title at the 2021 Tour of Britain. He won the 2021 edition of the Antwerp Port Epic, which he used as a trial run for the UCI World Championships.
He came eighth at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships and finished his road season in the 2021 Paris–Roubaix where he took the final podium place covered head to toe in mud. He put an initial hold on his cyclocross season due to his continued back pain, and eventually raced twice before pulling out altogether. At his first race, the Dendermonde World Cup, he finished second behind Wout van Aert. In his second and final race of the season, he crashed early on and pulled out after seven laps.
In September 2021, he renewed his contract with Alpecin–Fenix until 2025.
After three months of rest due to his back pain, Van der Poel began his 2022 season at Milan–San Remo, where he finished third. He rode in the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, a five-day stage race, where he won the fourth stage.
He won the Dwars door Vlaanderen.
At the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Tadej Pogačar, making his debut at the race, attacked on the second ascent of Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg to pull ahead of the peloton with a select group of riders including van der Poel. Pogačar accelerated twice more on the final ascent of Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg with only van der Poel able to go with him. The duo rode slowly inside the final kilometre as they prepared for the sprint but this action allowed Dylan van Baarle and Valentin Madouas to come back in the final few hundred metres before van der Poel took the win in the sprint finish.
After a fourth in Amstel Gold Race and a ninth in Paris–Roubaix, Van der Poel made his first appearance at the Giro d'Italia, the second Grand Tour participation of his career. He won the opening stage and wore the pink leader's jersey for three stages. He also won the overall Combativity Award.
In September, Van der Poel was convicted of common assault against two girls aged 13 and 14, after an incident in a hotel in Sydney the night before the Road World Championship; the conviction was overturned following appeal in December.
Van der Poel began his 2023 season with a win at the X20 Trofee Herentals cyclocross race. He followed this up with two further wins and two silver medals before taking part in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, which he won for a fifth time after a tight sprint against Wout van Aert.
At Milan–San Remo, Van der Poel attacked at the top of the Poggio di San Remo, leaving his main rivals Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogačar and Filippo Ganna behind and soloing into the finish in San Remo.
In April, Van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix, setting a new record of 46.841 km/h, an improvement of more than 1 km/h over the previous record, and finished second in the Tour of Flanders.
On 6 August 2023, van der Poel won the elite men's road race at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships, held in Glasgow as part of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships. Van der Poel attacked the leading group of riders including van Aert, Pogacar and Mads Pedersen in the closing laps and despite suffering a crash and damaging his shoe was able to extend his lead to take solo victory.
Van der Poel began his 2024 road season at Milan–San Remo, where Van der Poel rode for his teammate Jasper Philipsen, following Tadej Pogačar's attacks over the top of the Poggio and pacing the final lead in to San Remo, where Philipsen sprinted for the win.
Van der Poel had a strong cobbled classics season, winning the E3 Saxo Classic, finishing second at Gent–Wevelgem, and then winning the Tour of Flanders for a record-tying third time. The next week, Van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix for the second consecutive year.
Returning to defend his title, Van der Poel finished third, claiming the bronze medal at the 2024 UCI Road World Championships, after winning the sprint for third place in the group behind winner Pogačar and silver medalist Ben O'Connor.
In October, Van der Poel won the UCI Gravel World Championships, dropping breakaway companion Florian Vermeersch with 13 km to go and winning solo with over a minute gap. This marked Van der Poel's eighth world championship across three different disciplines.
During the winter cyclo-cross season, Van der Poel won every race he participated in, culminating in winning the world championships in Liévin. Van der Poel led for the majority of the race, finishing 45 seconds ahead of rival Wout van Aert. It was Van der Poel's seventh world championship, tying the record of Erik De Vlaeminck.
Van der Poel began his road season in March at the Ename Samyn Classic, which he won in a bunch sprint. Van der Poel won the 2025 Milan-San Remo, out-sprinting Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogačar after following Pogačar's attack on the Cipressa with 25 km to go. It was van der Poel's second win at the race, and seventh monument of his career.
He secured his eighth monument victory with a win in Paris-Roubaix after riding solo away from the fallen Pogačar with 38 kilometers to go, eventually winning by over a minute. He became the third rider in the race's history to win three consecutive editions.
Van der Poel returned to cross-country mountain bike racing at the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race in Nove Mesto, Czechia, but exited the race less than halfway through after crashing twice, with the second crash resulting in a fractured scaphoid bone. He vowed to continue preparation for the world championships despite the setback.
Despite the injury, Van der Poel returned in time for participation in the Critérium du Dauphiné. He finished inside the top 10 of all but two of the seven stages.
At the 2025 Tour de France, Van der Poel helped lead out Jasper Philipsen to the stage 1 victory before winning stage 2 in a sprint against Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, claiming his first win at the tour in four years and the yellow jersey in the process for the second time of his career.
Van der Poel was selected for the 2026 Tour de France. He won both stage nine and the ultimate stage twenty-one on the Champs-Élysees, the latter after being in a breakaway with Tadej Pogačar in the yellow jersey. Van der Poel was almost caught in the last hundred metres, but fended off a small group of sprinters to win in the bike throw.
