Mathieu van der Poel rumoured to return to competition at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali

Mathieu van der Poel has undergone a complicated winter period but he is looking to come back to racing in time for the spring classics where he would on paper be a favourite to take some important wins.

The Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali takes place from the 22nd to 26th of March and is a continuation of the Italian spring calendar. Usually it serves as an opportunity for the World Tour teams to get some strong results, aswell as giving Pro Teams opportunities to take big wins ahead of strong competition. It is very unusual for the classics specialists to race it as it collides with the Brugge-De Panne Classic and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, however the Dutchman may have it in his calendar as it would provide for valuable racing kilometers before his big targets, if he is to return to competition there as reported by RTBF Sport.

Van der Poel has for the last few weeks been training near Calpe, in Spain. He has returned to the bike in late January and has since been increasing his training load, allowing him to have a base for the upcoming season. After his crash at the Olympic Games mountain bike race last year he reported back pain and has several times had to postpone his return to racing due to it. He had briefly returned to cyclocross during the winter but after two races his back pain flared up and he spent around a month with no bike in a crucial period of the pre-season.