Back pain keeps Mathieu van der Poel from reaching full potential in Zonhoven - "It's very hard to focus, all I think about is the pain in my back"

Mathieu van der Poel put up a valiant effort at the World Cup Zonhoven but ultimately fell short of the top spot, finishing in second place behind the dominant Wout van Aert.

"It didn't go well," Van der Poel said in the post-race interview. His drop in performance can be attributed to a back issue he is experiencing."I can be brief about it: it is not going the way I would like."

He experienced a recurrence of back pain during the X2O Trofee Koksijde competition, which had also been a hindrance during the previous season."My back hurts again, which is frustrating. It's very hard to focus, all I think about is the pain in my back,” said the Dutchman.

His fall during the third lap caused a resurgence of the pain, ultimately preventing him from competing at his full potential against his rival, Wout van Aert. "It's very hard to focus, all I think about is the pain in my back. You have to be 100 per cent focused on the race, but I can't manage that now. I can ride maybe half a lap at the pace I want, but then I have to hold back again because of the pain. That's very frustrating," concluded the van der Poel.