Jean-Paul van Poppel (born 30 September 1962 in Tilburg, North Brabant) is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who was nicknamed Popeye. Van Poppel was one of the most successful Dutch road sprinters. He won stages in mass sprints in all three Grand Tours, sometimes from positions that appeared lost. In the Tour de France he won 9 stages altogether. In 1988 he won 4 stages, the highest won number by a Dutch cyclist in one tour. He also competed in the individual road race event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Van Poppel won the points classification in the 1987 Tour de France. After he ended his career in 1995, he became a directeur sportif in women's cycling. With his first wife, cyclist Leontine van der Lienden, Jean-Paul van Poppel has two sons, Boy van Poppel who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam ., and Danny van Poppel currently riding for BORA-Hansgrohe and a daughter Kim. Van der Lienden and Van Poppel have since divorced. Van Poppel remarried in 2004 with one of his team members, cyclist Mirjam Melchers. From 2009 to 2010 he was one of the sports directors at the Cervélo Test Team based in Switzerland. From 2011, he has served as a sports director for the until 2014. From 2015 till the team folded in 2019, van Poppel serves as a sports director for the Dutch ProContinental Team, together with Erik Breukink and Michael Boogerd.

Major results

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