Mathieu van der Poel is a decorated figure of cycling, both on and off-road. From rainbow stripes in cyclocross to World Cup XC, Spring Classics, and the three greatest grand tours in cycling, van der Poel is legendary. But as he stares down a historic bid to become the first rider to ever clinch four consecutive Paris-Roubaix titles, a new short film from Shimano is asking us to look somewhere else.
“This is Home” isn’t about the champagne on the podium or the rainbow stripes. It’s about the quiet, repetitive, and deeply personal rhythms that happen when the cameras are usually turned off.
Filmed on his home turf around Antwerp and Moraira, the film offers a rare, “unprecedented” look at the man behind the results. We see the steady miles, the repeated climbs, and the simple comfort of life with his girlfriend, Roxanne Bertels, and their dog, Lola.
“Performance is not built in a single race, but through thousands of small moments on the bike.”
— Shimano Philosophy
It’s impossible to talk about MVDP without talking about the “storied bloodlines” he was born into. You’ve got the resilience of his grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, and the pure discipline of his father, Adri van der Poel. For most people, that kind of legacy would be a crushing weight. For Mathieu, it seems to be a responsibility he carries with a sense of “playful authority”.
Whether he’s on a road bike, a mountain bike, or a CX bike, he’s spent his entire career redefining what “modern racing” looks like. But this film, the sixteenth installment in Shimano’s long-running series, reminds us that even a generational talent needs a place to ground themselves.
Sterling Lorence
At the end of the day, “This is Home” is a reminder that even the world’s most dynamic champions are built on the roads they return to over and over again. It’s a love letter to the process, the grit, and the place where passion meets everyday life
It’s a vibe that only a crew like Anthill Films (the masters behind Anytime and unReal) could capture so effectively. They’ve traded the high-octane race footage for something more elemental: the environment that shapes the athlete.