Chest pain sidelines Van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel had planned to start the year today at the GP Sven Nys in Baal, but his team has just announced that he will be out due to severe rib pain that he has been carrying since his fall in Loenhout.

Van der Poel pauses his winning streak to recover

Just hours before the start of the race in Baal, Alpecin-Deceuninck has announced Van der Poel's withdrawal. The World Champion was supposed to start his 2025 there and all predictions pointed to him continuing the winning streak with which he has been dazzling us this season. But it will not be so.

Now we have learned that during his first encounter with Van Aert in Loenhout he suffered a hard blow against one of the circuit poles that caused him severe chest pain. Despite that, he still had time to keep winning days later, but now he has decided to stop and recover.

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This is how his team communicated it.

Unfortunately, 2025 is not starting as we expected. The world champion Mathieu van der Poel will not participate today in the GP Sven Nys in Baal.

Mathieu is suffering from significant rib pain, a persistent effect of his fall in Loenhout, where he collided with a pole. The discomfort has worsened in the last few days and, after consulting with the medical team this morning, Mathieu has 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.