Alpecin-Deceuninck boss explains Mathieu van der Poel injury: "This is of course not pleasant for him, but there's nothing we can do about it"

Mathieu van der Poel's dominant winter cyclocross campaign, with five victories from five starts, has come to an abrupt pause due to an injury that has forced him to withdraw from the GP Sven Nys Baal.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider sustained the injury during the race in Loenhout, where a flat tyre caused him to slide and collide with a pole, as explained by team boss Christoph Roodhooft. "In Loenhout, Mathieu got a flat tire at one point, after which he slid away. That caused him to hit a pole with his chest. We saw that ourselves, but Mathieu didn’t necessarily say anything about it afterwards,” Roodhooft told Wielerflits. “He also suffered relatively little from it in Besançon."

However, the pain worsened after the Besançon race, leading to Van der Poel’s withdrawal. "The day after Besançon he did have some pain. The discomfort was really annoying. We decided this morning that he would not start in Baal. Yesterday the pain was really annoying and annoying," Roodhooft added.

The team is now closely monitoring Van der Poel's recovery, though no medical examinations are planned. "We'll see how the next few days will go. The first new balance will be drawn up tomorrow morning. Then we'll see. There will be no medical check-ups. He just hurt himself. This is of course not pleasant for him, but there's nothing we can do about it," Roodhooft concluded.