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Mathieu van der Poel has had injury problems for a long time, but many are wondering when he will return. According to Alpecin-Fenix team manager Christoph Roodhooft, they will wait a while to see how the injury will develop "We are waiting to see how his back injury will develop," Roodhooft told Belgian news agency Belga, as quoted by cyclingnews "He should also be able to resume training because without that there is no question of competing in races.
We are going to look at the matter calmly." Apparently he is still feeling the pain that is causing him problems, and the Tokyo Olympics may have had an impact on the development of the injury "The back injury has been bothering him for a while," said Roodhooft.
"His fall at the Tokyo Olympics probably didn't affect it, but it won't have helped either." "We're not worried about it because doing that won't get you anywhere. The problem has to be solved and we'll continue to see how it goes.
"The big problem is not that he has to miss cyclo-cross races, but that Mathieu is not pain free. Because of that nagging pain he doesn't have his full capabilities. He can't train to get better and that's terribly annoying.
We'll wait and see when his return will be possible."
Bombeke opinion
Van der Poel's physiotherapist, David Bombeke believes this is the result of hard competition in a variety of disciplines This is actually the result of the many attacks he has committed on his body, from mountain biking to cycling on the road, to cyclo-cross and BMX in the past," Bombeke told Het Nieuwsblad.
"His body is now paying the price." The World Championships in the USA are planned for the end of January, but the question is whether Mathieu has time for such a competition. Getting in shape would be too difficult "It is a bit premature to look at the World Championships now, but of course it is true that there is not much time left," said Bombeke.
"If you ride the World Championships, you have to be good and, in my view, a month is a fairly short time frame to get in top shape. It's not just my personal opinion that counts, because I'm not affiliated with the team, but, if I may say what I think, rest should really be the priority now, no matter how much time it takes."