I gave it a short look and his training is crazy. 5 days in a row, WE off. During the aerobic phase of his training (in the summer) he did 33 hours weekly on his bike, so 3 seven hour rides and 2 six hour rides at low intensity just to built an aerobic base.
Yup, he has done a lot of cycling. Like in his prep before the Olympics he stayed in a small village in the Alps. He would skate before noon and ride his bike in the Alps for a 3-4 hour ride in the after noon.
I remember last summer (I think) he had a project about riding through most of Sweden on his bike. I think he ended up just riding for a few days because he got sick or got saddle sores. I dont remember.
There was an article last week after his final race saying that it was a dutch cycling team that had made inquiries. But Van Der Poel was kind of nonchalant about it because he said "I think it was a dutch team".
He is kind of opinionated and got very strong beliefs. Both in himself and things he stands for. Like he gifted one of his gold medals to raise awareness for an author and publisher that is in prisoned in China. Accused of being a spy.
He is a real character. Another career as an elite athlete seemed pretty far away according to him and that type of life, but he also quit skating like three times and always came back each time until now presumably. That this was his final time and that he would finally quit after achieving everything he wanted.
It has seemed like he really has no idea what he is gonna do, so who knows.