Jean-Paul van Poppel

Jean-Paul van Poppel is a Dutch former racing cyclist, born on 30 September 1962 in Tilburg, North Brabant, and nicknamed Popeye. He was one of the most successful Dutch road sprinters, winning stages from mass sprints in all three Grand Tours, sometimes from positions that looked lost. In the Tour de France he won nine stages altogether, and in 1988 he won four of them, the most won by a Dutch rider in a single Tour. He also took the points classification at the 1987 Tour de France, and he competed in the individual road race at the 1984 Summer Olympics. After he stopped racing in 1995 he became a sports director, working in women's cycling and later with the Cervélo Test Team, Vacansoleil-DCM and Team Roompot. His sons Boy and Danny van Poppel are also professional cyclists, and his second wife Mirjam Melchers is a former racer.