{"id":314296,"date":"2025-11-28T12:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/314296\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T12:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:49:07","slug":"we-call-having-children-a-burden-for-a-pro-mathieu-is-living-carefree-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/314296\/","title":{"rendered":"“We call having children a burden for a pro \u2013 Mathieu is living carefree in Spain\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSpeaking on the podcast De Grote Plaat,<\/a> De Cauwer argued that the current culture in cycling leaves little room for family life at the very highest level.<\/p>\n

According to him, the sport\u2019s rapid professionalisation has created an environment where having children is almost considered a disadvantage for a cyclist. As he put it: \u201cIt\u2019s reached the point where we call having children a burden for a pro rider. People say it\u2019s better not to have kids. And yes, children can make you ill\u2026 And then it\u2019s about Van der Poel and Van Aert as well. That\u2019s part of the story, because Mathieu is constantly living carefree in Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, De Cauwer sees a clear contrast in how the two stars are able to structure their lives, and believes that difference may have performance consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must really be careful with the youth\u201d<\/p>\n

His warning went beyond Van Aert and Van der Poel. De Cauwer fears that the same mentality is burning out young riders before they reach their peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to be careful with the youth. Among the Belgians, we\u2019ve had talented juniors and U23 riders who\u2019ve quit the sport. Dieticians and coaches have too much influence. The focus is too rarely on racing itself. The organisations need to realise that cycling is also something riders experience emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

For him, the problem is not just training numbers and race schedules, but a loss of joy and personality along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mind has to find rest to get results\u201dTo illustrate that balance still matters, he cited Thymen Arensman<\/a>, who radically changed his approach in 2025 and went on to win two Tour de France stages.<\/a> \u201cThe mind has to find rest to get results in the end,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that, in my opinion, is the story of Arensman.\u201dDe Cauwer also linked this culture to big names stepping away sooner than expected. Ide Schelling<\/a> was one example he mentioned, before turning to a former Grand Tour winner. \u201cI also listened to your podcast with Ide Schelling. I find it a shame to hear. Cycling remains his passion, but no longer as a pro. Or take Tom Dumoulin<\/a>: he has missed out on six, seven million euros. By stopping three or four years too early. He will never earn that amount again.\u201d\u201cRaces have become far too hard\u201d<\/p>\n

De Cauwer finished with a broader warning to the UCI, arguing that escalating race difficulty is pushing riders to extremes.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep living. The UCI also has a responsibility regarding rider health and work ethic. The Tour de France had 5,400 metres of elevation. That\u2019s simply too much. Races have become far too hard. The UCI should give Grand Tours a framework to ensure a broader type of rider can make the start line.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the rivalry between Van der Poel and Van Aert to the choices facing young pros, De Cauwer\u2019s message is the same: the sport is demanding ever more \u2013 and something, or someone, is going to break.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speaking on the podcast De Grote Plaat, De Cauwer argued that the current culture in cycling leaves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,177800,177802,77973,85,8397,177801,58412],"class_list":{"0":"post-314296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-ide-schelling","12":"tag-jose-de-cauwer","13":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-thymen-arensman","16":"tag-tom-dumoulin","17":"tag-wout-van-aert"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}