Update: Mathieu van der Poel to Miss World Champs Due to Back Pain
Team Alpecin-Fenix announced today that Mathieu van der Poel's back pain will prevent him from racing World Championships at Val di Sole this week. He will instead focus on rehabilitation so that he can finish out his road season with the Paris Roubaix, the Benelux Tour, and other road races.
Original story below.
It feels like just the other day that Mathieu van der Poel seemed unstoppable, claiming the yellow jersey for six days at the Tour de France before leaving the Tour to race the Olympics. Now, the 26-year-old Dutch road, cyclocross, and cross country star had to cut short an altitude training camp due to back pain that has increasingly plagued him since the Albstadt World Cup and has put the rest of his race season in jeopardy.
Van der Poel is scheduled to race the cross country World Championships next week in Val di Sole before returning to road racing for the rest of the season, but Alpecin-Fenix team manager Christophe Roodhooft told Dutch news outlet Het Laatste Nieuws that things will have to turn around before van der Poel can seriously train again: "He has problems with his lower back. Riding at ease is possible but of course that's not training," he said. "That's why we decided to stop the training camp."
Van der Poel's crash in the Olympics isn't the root of the problem and his team says he has suffered from worsening back pain since the Albstadt World Cup, but landing on his back in the Olympics certainly didn't help and his condition has worsened since then. A painkiller injection to his back and adjustment of his cleat position so far haven't eased the pain.
Moreover, it seems the crash's effects weren't all physical. Dutch national mountain bike coach Gerben de Knegt said van der Poel wants to race World Champs partly for redemption after his Olympic bid didn't go as planned.
"Mathieu indicated that he would like to do it," the coach said. "I immediately felt that he thought he had something to put right," he continued, before explaining that van der Poel also needs the UCI points. Missing out could take away his eligibility for next year's short track races and would no doubt put a damper on his offseason.
The next couple of days will likely bring answers about the rest of his season. We wish him all the best in his recovery and hope to see him at the start line for Worlds next week.
90 Comments
I once fell off a curb (was watching a deer) and broke a finger. Was off the bike for 4 months...
Pins, screws, plates and bars, and 2 years of physio later…so yes I agree, silly falls can still do big damage.
Yeah, I know, but I still couldn't help myself.
I am sure Peaty dominated Bruni in 2012.
It's 2021 that counts for 2021 results. Hard to swallow sometimes, but that's racing.
I won a nationals in vets in 2016. Couldn't beat an egg this year.
Calm down and put the history book back on the shelf.
Now is about now/2021 and only 2021.
It's not about previous years.
Not a fan boi at all btw, just recognising someone in good form now (might not be the same next year, who knows).
So. Pidcock...
1. Started at the back, got to the front, had a mechanical.
2. Rode with a flat and nearly did took it.
3. Smoked them.
4. Olympic champion.
Best thing about pinkers is they love to dig up old stuff to devalue today's stuff that they don't like.
Bonus dumbass points for assuming I don't like Pidcock. 2-2 in making yourself look stupid, well done.
Such a childish comment and you can't even read.
I only quoted results from this year.
Try racing one day, you might understand.
Never said you don't like Pidcock, go learn English and come back once you have.
But since you don't know wtf you're talking about and your experience is limited to watching one Olympic race and apparently fanboi'ing at maximum level over it, you don't know that. Grow up.
Fired up... Pmsl, you crack me up. Calm yersel doon. You seem to get affie excited a little easily.
In XC (which this is about) they have limited time against each other.
Pidcock was on form in the first half of the year (well, was for the Olympics, but we don't know what his training is like after then for worlds).
Who will win worlds... we will find out soon enough.
Quite intesting how this regurgitation of 'news' works. Van der Poel went to Livigno for his training camp on the 3rd, so allmost 3 weeks ago. He then broke that off and went home. Some news about that emerged on the 14th and then somebody talks to the national coach (who put him in the worlds squad on the 16th) and his team director (who expects him to race a road stage race of a week next week, if all goes well).
Then snippets of those quotes start to emerge from website to website and days later that brings us here. So what does that tell you about the current situation? Nothing.
If you read this news bit, which isn't first hand knowledge to begin with (it's his national team coach!), you get the impression there is a big problem and a lot is uncertain. Maybe that's still valid, but so many days have past that it makes me laugh a bit.
Injuries are a part of the sport, I have had my fair share. To be honest with you, I suffered a major lower back injury at 24 years old which took me nearly 7 years to recover from. If anybody understands it, it's me... However; in life we are faced with many obstacles and challenges, most of which are superficial. Every once in a while your faced with a major event. It's these moments that help define our true grit in character. Sometimes the best way to overcome these events is to laugh it off like it's nothing and push through it.
I made the choice to take a comical "walk it off" approach because sometimes that's what people need to here. You may not agree with me, and that's okay because your entitled to your opinion. But I tell you if that was me, the last thing I'd wanna hear is "poor you" and "are you okay". I wanna hear somebody to tell me to get my ass up, brush myself off, and get some. Just my two cents.