Disaster at the Team Picnic PostNL camp - La Vuelta leader Max Poole diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus
Cycling
Team Picnic PostNL is in serious need of UCI points to ensure they remain at World Tour level but the upcoming Vuelta a España may not be a good period for the team. With Romain Bardet retired, Fabio Jakobsen out of form; and Oscar Onley, Tobias Lund Andresen and Pavel Bittner straight off the Tour, the team relied on Max Poole to take the lead in the final Grand Tour of the season. But he is now out of competition.
Poole, 7th at this year's Tour of the Alps and 11th at the Giro d'Italia where he had a formidable end to the race and was frequently climbing alongside the best, was the set leader for the team's Vuelta lineup - a mountainous race where he'd have plenty opportunities. But this Wednesday morning the team revealed he was diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus.
“It’s been difficult few weeks trying to work out what the situation was and I appreciate the support the team has given me during this period," Poole said in a press release issued by the team. "I’m pretty relieved to now understand the root of the problem as it means that I can start to focus on recovery and getting my health back on track. I’m really disappointed to miss the team at the Vuelta, and wish them the best of luck there.”
However this constitutes a big issue for the team, with it's lineup yet to be announced and no-one except for Casper van Uden perhaps lined out to have somewhat of a leading position in the race, although there are few opportunities for the sprinters.
Team staff feared something was wrong
“Max didn’t come away from altitude feeling as we’d hoped, and when he continued to decline during Poland we removed him from the race on medical grounds to conduct thorough investigations," team coach Rudi Kemna explained. Now that we know the full extent of his illness, our focus is simply on looking after him and giving him the time and support he needs to recover fully.”
Camiel Aldershof, head doctor at the Dutch team, worked to diagnose what had been happening with the Briton: “We’ve been looking into the possible reasons for Max’s health problems over the past few weeks, and today we confirmed that he has Epstein-Barr virus with glandular fever. Sadly, this means he’ll need a longer period of rest while we work on getting him back to full health. Now we know what’s behind his symptoms, we can start moving in the right direction with his recovery.”
Read also
Max Poole has been diagnosed with Epstein–Barr virus ruling him out of #LaVuelta25🇪🇸 and competition for the time being 💔
— Team Picnic PostNL (@picnicpostnl) August 20, 2025
We’re thinking of you, Max, and sure you’ll be back in no time! 🫶🏻
🇬🇧🔗https://t.co/bzgBmq1Bei
🇳🇱🔗https://t.co/s3CTnd0Zbt pic.twitter.com/P3FKrPLMM3
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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