BOY VAN POPPEL
Roompot’s Dutch sprinter on family, inding his place in a team and US adventures
I grew up with my father and mother being professional cyclists.
My father never told me there were cycling races for kids. I think he thought I could do cycling for the rest of my life, so maybe it’s good to take it easy when you’re younger. I found out when I was 10 years old and from then on, he couldn’t stop me. I did my first race when I was 10 and won.
I was a junior cyclo-cross world champion when one of my friends went to Rabobank.
It was my dream to race with him, and also Rabobank was the team for young Dutch riders. When they asked me to sign, of course I said yes.
I did four years with Rabobank as if I were in the military.
You had to wear nice clothing at dinner. You had to be on time. At 7pm we were all at the table. You go to the airport all together, you did everything together. I never had to think. When you were young and you did something wrong, in my experience they were pretty hard on you and it was not always nice. But I still use things that I learned there.
A few times I was second to Mark Cavendish in the sprints early in my career.
He was like the legend, the big sprinter. For me to come so close to him was already a win. At the Tour of Missouri in 2008 I won and was over the moon because we were the Continental team. It was the first time Mark had been beaten after he won all the sprints in the Giro and Tour.
I learned to take care of myself with UnitedHealthcare.
I had to fly on my own to the USA with three transfers, which I’d never done. It was a school for me to mature, like when you move out on your own. We did a lot of crits and it was one of the best years of my career. They called us the ‘blue train’. We had the best lead-out with crit specialists like Hilton Clarke and Karl Menzies. But then I’d see the Giro and Tour on TV, and I realised I still wanted to do these big races. If I stayed, I’d never be able to.
I signed with SpiderTech for two years for 2013, but it collapsed.
They had to pay me and with this money I could go to Vacansoleil. Vacansoleil had a free rider, but for me it didn’t matter. I did all the classics I dreamed of, San Remo, Flanders. My brother [Danny van Poppel] was the team’s upcoming sprint talent and we were both selected to go to the Tour de France. I went from crits to the Tour the next year - an unbelievable step.
My father was a sports director and we did some races together.
I looked up to him. I saw him when he was a DS at Cervélo, always with the big guys, like Thor Hushovd. I also wanted to be one of his riders.
My brother and I moved together to Trek and I went as a lead-out man for him, but Giacomo Nizzolo saw I was quite good and also wanted me to work with me.
I also worked in the classics with Fabian Cancellara, and that went well.
I was a man who did everything in that team. I found my speciality. I know where to go in the bunch and I can be useful for a top sprinter.
Trek said they were saving money because they were starting a women’s team.
They were buying Richie Porte and they needed more climbers. They wanted to save money and I had to go. I had one of my best years in 2018, but then was without a team.
I was happy to sign at Roompot because there are opportunities.
Now I want to prove again that I can still be a sprinter. At Trek as a leadout man, the team pushed you, but I pushed myself more because you want to do good for yourself, the team and the sprinter. I needed to bring the sprinter to a certain point and it’s my fault if he has no result - that’s my feeling. With Roompot, if I don’t get a result it’s my fault, but next time I can do better. I finished seventh in stage 1 of the Tour of Oman. That would have been an okay result at Trek, but at Roompot everybody was encouraging.