Improve You

Most people know Mathieu van der Poel: 10-time world champion and one of the greatest all-round cyclists in history. But this episode isn't about him. It's about the woman by his side. Roxanne Bertels (33, Antwerp) spent six years in marketing at Porsche before her life took an unexpected turn after meeting Mathieu at a work event in Finland. In this episode of Improve You, Roxanne opens u...

Surgery on Monday. Olympic race the Monday after. That's not a metaphor. That's what Jens Schuermans actually did before Paris 2024.One week before his Olympic race, a bag of podium clothes caught in his wheel at the Belgian Championships. Broken wrist. Surgery. Most athletes would have ended their summer there. Jens got back on the bike pain-free and showed up at the Olympic start line se...

On 1 January 2025, Eli Iserbyt won the GP Sven Nys in Baal. His 54th elite cyclo-cross victory. He was 27, in the prime of his career, and nobody watching that day could have told you he had six weeks of racing left in him. Six weeks later he stopped his season because of pain in his left leg. Everyone, including the doctors, thought it was a muscle problem. It wasn't. An artery in his pelvis had...

Most people assume professional athletes are the healthiest people on the planet. They're not. Justine Vanhaevermaet has 77 international caps for the Belgian Red Flames, plays for Crystal Palace Women in England, and holds a Master's degree in physiotherapy. For 17 years she has used her body as her tool, her income, and her identity. While knowing better than almost anyone what that actually cos...