Mathieu van der Poel has been training for a few weeks on Spanish roads, before making his debut in cyclocross, and former Olympic athlete Greg Van Avermaet and his friend Freddy Ovett, the thirty-one-year-old Australian who is his faithful training companion when MVDP is in Spain, were keeping him company.

Among friends, jokes and bets are made, and this time it was Ovett who, inspired by Van Avermaet's recent world success in the Marbella Ironman, proposed a serious challenge to his friend Mathieu. Mathieu van der Poel had already expressed his desire to participate in a triathlon in a video with famous YouTuber Average Rob, and discussions suggest that this might become a reality sooner or later.

"MVDP will participate in an Ironman if this video reaches 100,000 likes": this is what his training partner and friend Freddy Ovett wrote under a post showing the two friends training on Spanish roads. The likes are increasing rapidly, and the Dutch champion himself has enjoyed responding to his friend Ovett, remembering that he first must attempt the Ironman he already promised to Average Rob exactly two years ago.