As an Astana rider, Wout Poels still enjoys cycling and other passions: "Some riders don’t like it, and that’s okay"

At 37 years old, Wout Poels is gearing up for his 17th season as a pro rider. Despite his age and experience, his move to XDS Astana feels a little like a fresh start. Speaking to him in Altea — nice and familiar, as this is where he used to train with Bahrain Victorious during winter camps — the cheerful Poels shared his thoughts with IDLProCycling.com about the upcoming 2025 cycling season.

The obvious first question: how's life at the new team? "I’m really enjoying it. Everyone is super friendly, and I feel very welcome, so that's nice," said Poels. It’s a bit of an adjustment, of course, but that’s perfectly fine. "I spent five years at Bahrain, so I was used to everything there. It’s the same as when I moved from Sky to Bahrain. Luckily, I already know some of the guys from the peloton, which always helps."

"Also, with a training camp in Spain: now that everything is new, it’s really nice to get to know everyone and everything again," Poels said about XDS Astana’s December camp. "The staff, the riders, my trainer, you name it. Actually, that was intense. Not as intense as when I moved from Vacansoleil to Quick-Step, because back then, I was much more nervous. Suddenly, you were standing there with Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish, and I really looked up to them. As you get older, that fades, but you still have to find your way."

That way is a little easier to find with a few more fellow Dutchmen on the team. XDS Astana will have five Dutch riders next season, including Mike Teunissen, Ide Schelling, Cees Bol, and Darren van Bekkum. "In recent years, I haven’t really been on teams with many Dutch riders, so that’s nice. At first, you naturally stick together a bit, but I also make a conscious effort to mingle with the rest."

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Poels on Dutch teammates and XDS Astana's new Chinese bikes

Currently, the age gap with some of his fellow countrymen — like Van Bekkum, who joined from Visma | Lease a Bike and is 22 years old — is significant. Poels’ experience can be valuable for his younger teammate, but he also feels he can learn things from Van Bekkum. "I spent the first few days of the training camp in his group, so then you naturally gravitate toward each other. What I’ve noticed about young riders is that they already come across as much more professional. They’re so focused on nutrition and have all done altitude training camps — my first was when I was 27, with Sky. Nowadays, they already know almost everything, especially if they’ve come through Visma | Lease a Bike, even in the development team, where they learn a lot. That also makes the step to the pros smaller."

Alright, that first impression is important with a new team. "Everything looks good at Astana Qazaqstan Team," said Poels, who, like his teammates, will ride an XDS bike next year. "The bike has also been a positive surprise, so I was happy about that. It was somewhat of an uncertain factor, but I have to say I’ve been positively surprised. It feels good during training, but we’ll have to see how it performs in races. With Decathlon (using the Van Rysel bike, ed.), they also made a strong entrance, but you know what? XDS makes eight million bikes a year, so they definitely have some know-how. They also produce frames for many well-known brands and have the budget, so they know what they’re doing."

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Non-selection for the Giro did not play a role in Poels' transfer

Poels made the switch from Bahrain Victorious to XDS Astana. This came after many suspected that he would leave following his non-selection for the Giro. In hindsight, it seems the situation wasn’t as dramatic as it appeared. "It was the team’s decision, but it’s not like anything went wrong. I could’ve even re-signed with them. But at a certain point, you weigh your options: do you want to stay, or do you want to leave? Then you make a list of what’s important to you, and I realized I could still take on an adventure. After five years, it’s not a bad idea to bring in some fresh energy," said the climber.

"For me, it was important to have input on the race program I was allowed to do," he continued. "And of course, I have fewer years ahead of me than behind me, so I take things year by year now. If I maintain my level from the last few years, why not add another year? You only get to stop living as a top athlete once, so you should enjoy it for as long as you can."

So where can we expect to see him in action in 2025? "I really want to ride the Giro. Beyond that, it’ll be the usual races that I always do: Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Catalonia, that kind of thing. Those are the races I enjoy most," said Poels, who isn’t worried about having to race smaller events to chase WorldTour points. "Chasing points will also be a big goal in the races I mentioned. And if I have to race smaller events, that’s not a bad thing either. Those races have some serious racing going on as well. Take the Tour of Hungary this year. It was great to compete for the win there."

Now 37 years old, many riders that are Poels' age (or retired) often comment on how much harder and more serious cycling has become. Poels has a fitting response to that. "When I started, people rode hard, and they still do now. So not much has changed, haha!" he laughed. "The equipment keeps getting better though. That’s probably the biggest difference. But I can still compete for results, so in that sense, nothing has really changed. And most importantly, I still enjoy the life of a top athlete, which is also important. Sometimes, I feel like people think you’re not allowed to enjoy it anymore."

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Poels is also getting into podcasting alongside cycling, together with Van Baarle

Make no mistake: Poels is still hyper-ambitious. "I do get annoyed when things don’t go well. I sometimes come home with that feeling like it was just terrible. But you have to pick yourself back up, otherwise it gets really tough. Like last year in the Tour. That wasn’t great. They were pushing so hard, and then when the GC riders also take all the stage wins… I’m not going to complain about them being greedy, because that’s just racing. But there wasn’t much left for the rest of us. The year before was also tough, but I was in the action more often and even won a stage. So that’s just how the game works."

It’s a game he loves so much that he now also spends a lot of time talking about it. Together with Dylan van Baarle (Visma | Lease a Bike) and journalist Marijn Abbenhuis, Poels co-hosts the podcast In Koers, in which they casually discuss life in the peloton. "I really enjoy doing that with Dylan and Marijn. The idea started after I was a guest on G's podcast (Geraint Thomas, ed.). I talked about it with Dylan, and he thought it sounded fun. Then we pitched it to Marijn, a friend of Dylan’s who now works in Formula 1, and that’s how we started."

"I actually see it as a hobby," Poels said. "Outside of cycling, I don’t have many hobbies, but this is something I really enjoy. I’ve heard from a lot of people that they listen to it, which is nice to hear. Some riders don’t like it, and that’s okay. We mostly talk about our own lives. It's not that we’re really analyzing races. It’s nice and lighthearted, we just talk about what we experience and how we feel. Hearing that people enjoy it really makes me happy!"

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