The year 2025 is off to a decidedly bad start for Mathieu van der Poel… Expected on this New Year’s Day on the side of Baal in Belgium to compete in the GP Sven Nys and the 5th round of X²O Bathrooms Trophythe Dutchman will ultimately not participate in his sixth race of the winter this Wednesday January 1, 2025. His team Alpecin-Deceuninck announced this morning its package – which is added to those of Lars van der Haar (Baloise Glowi Lions) and Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen – Cibel Clémentines) – through a message published on her social networks in which she explains that the world champion “suffers from severe pain in his ribs, the after-effects of his fall in Loenhout where he hit a pole“, i.e. last Friday December 27, when he won his first duel with Wout Van Aert.
Video – Mathieu van der Poel won on Sunday in Besançon
What about the duel with Wout Van Aert this Sunday in Dendermonde?
From, Van der Poel was however able to compete and even achieve a 5th success in as many races near Besançon, where the last round of the World Cup. But according to his training: “the discomfort has worsened in recent days and after consulting the medical team this morning, Mathieu made the difficult decision to withdraw from today’s race. We will closely monitor his recovery to determine if he can compete in Koksijde the day after tomorrow“, she concluded regarding the continuation of the Batave calendar, initially planned at the start in Koksijde on Friday for the 6th round of the X²O Bathrooms Trophybut also Sunday in Dendermonde for the 9th round of the world circuit, where the highly anticipated 2nd clash with Van Aert could therefore be threatened…
