Mathieu van der Poel on return to racing: "The last two weeks I made some really good steps"

Mathieu van der Poel is making a surprise return to the peloton at Milano-Sanremo where he will have an important role within Alpecin-Fenix alongside Jasper Philipsen. The Dutch rider has had to postpone his start of the season due to a lingering back injury, but feels he is back to a level where he can be of good use for the team.

“To abandon the CX-season was a tough decision to make. But I think it was the right one and in the end I’ve had really proper time now to take care of the problem," he said. Back issues have been felt since his crash at the MTB Olympics last year, however it was only this winter that things took a turn for the worst after his initial recovery process proved unsuccessful. On the 26th of December he returned to cyclocross with a second place in Dendermonde, however on the following day in Heusden-Zolder he abandoned quoting back issues. Soon after he was advised to take complete rest off the bike for a month, which was also used for a minor knee surgery that had been postponed until now.

In late February van der Poel got back on the home trainer, and some days later he travelled to Spain where he spent six weeks training and building up his form around the Calpe area. He admits he wasn't confident that his preparation would allow him to be at a good level for the classics, however training has gone well and has given him back some confidence: “I didn’t really expect to get to the classics, because the progress was really slow, but then it started to go well. And then the last two weeks I made some really good steps which I and the team didn’t really expect”.

Van der Poel is still, as reported recently, racing the Settimana Coppi e Bartali next week in order to get back some form still in time of the cobbled monuments that will come in April, choosing to pass on the first races of the World Tour classics block of late March: "I hope I will be there at the starting line and try to get the best out of it”.