Mathieu van der Poel suffers first set back of cyclocross season: "The discomfort has gotten worse in the past few days"
Cyclocross
Mathieu van der Poel’s winter cyclocross campaign has been nothing short of sensational, with the Dutch superstar securing victory in all five of his races this season. However, his streak has hit an unexpected hurdle as his team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, has confirmed that Van der Poel is facing injury concerns that have forced him to withdraw from the GP Sven Nys Baal.
"Mathieu has a lot of pain in his ribs after his fall in Loenhout. He came into contact with a pole there. The discomfort has gotten worse in the past few days and after consultation with the medical team, Mathieu decided this morning not to start in Baal," the team revealed.
The crash in Loenhout, where Van der Poel collided with a pole, has led to worsening discomfort, posing a significant challenge for the reigning cyclocross World Champion. Missing the prestigious Baal race is a considerable blow for Van der Poel, his team, and the event organisers.
Alpecin-Deceuninck has also raised uncertainty about Van der Poel’s immediate future in the cyclocross calendar. "We will closely monitor his recovery to determine whether he can participate in the race in Koksijde on Friday," the team stated.
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- Yes, they're not better than them at coming in 10th placeVeganpotter04-01-2025
- He may not be concerned, exactly, but I guarantee you he is fully conscious of this move: Kuss, Jorgensen, and Yates make for a very powerful domestique, and I think the balance of power may have shifted to Visma.verve82504-01-2025
- I would change the phrase in the heading of this article from "very afraid" to "watch him a bit".Ride197404-01-2025
- You can't tell me he hasn't had a scan or xray to confirm any serious rib damage! What are they hiding?frieders304-01-2025
- I'm sure Tadeg is quite concrened with this...NOT !frieders304-01-2025
- I was hoping to see Tadej’s and understood you’d seen THAT.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- I just used those two as an example of a sport rivalry, could have chosen any other sport but expected people would understand better if I stayed in cycling. That said, you seem to have misinterpreted what I tried to imply or missed that rivalry altogether. Before those two started turning heads on the road, they have a far more interesting and very long relationship in xc. WVA has paid a heavy price for the move to road cycling but he did put up some amazing performances when things were going right, very often taking one for the team which obviously doesn’t show in statistics. Real fans of cycling remember more than just results.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- If you’re going to mention Kuss, you should mention Jorgensson too, potentially he could bring just as much.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- According to his official schedule NARVÁEZ is going to race Omloop, Kurne, E3, Dwars door vlaanderen, and Flanders. Obviously he's going to support tadej in some of those but most likely will get his chance at the others where tadej doesn't go.alsene03-01-2025
- Interesting that you compare van Aert and van der Poel, when the crazy fact is that Pogacar is the main rival in Monument wins for van der Poel, while also being the main rival in the Tour for Vingegaard. I wish van Aert were more successful, but sadly he's won the single Monument and his injuries lately, ay yay yay, I miss his health!RidesHills03-01-2025