| Team | Giant Australia Off-Road Team |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Van Man, Vandy, The plow, The Beast, PVDP etc. (No specific nickname universally recognized) |
| Location | Home Town: Mount Beauty. Current Residence: Melbourne |
| Occupation | Failing Student at RMIT Bundoora |
| Favourite food | All food except Cucumber and Rock melon! |
| Favourite drink | Banana Smoothie |
| Favourite music | Wide spectrum of music… Anything that is going really. Not POP trash though. |
| Favourite movies | Very hard to say. As a Baby: Lion King. Teenager: The Matrix. Currently: Lord of the Rings. |
| Favourite quote | “If you're not living on the edge your taking up too much space” (First quote that came into my head!) I’m not a big quote man. |
| Training ride | Anything with sweet single track flowing and smooth… New trail is the most thrilling, as you never know what is around the corner! |
| Career Highlights | Winning the World Cup Sprint Eliminator in England 2011. |
Paul van der Ploeg has cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with over the past several years on not only the Australian mountain bike circuit, but also in Europe and around the world!
The monster from Mount Beauty has embraced the modern Eliminator XC format and picked up a World Cup Eliminator win in England 2011.
In 2013 Paul successfully won the World XC Eliminator title in South Africa and raced successfully both on and off-road for the next couple of seasons. For 2017 Paul turns his focus to the Enduro World Series and will race locally in preparation for the coming season.
To keep up-to-date on his movements keep your eyes peeled to his Instagram and Facebook pages!
