Mathieu Van der Poel abandoned the Renewi Tour due to a knee injury

The World Champion Mathieu van der Poel abandoned the Renewi Tour 2024 yesterday due to a knee pain that he had been carrying since Friday when he hit the handlebars after an epic save during a time trial.

A knee injury forced Mathieu van der Poel to abandon

The Renewi Tour 2024 held in Belgium was the first of the four races that Van der Poel had in his end-of-season calendar. But on Friday, he suffered a blow to his knee during the time trial, causing him great pain while pedaling, so his team decided to send him home to try to save the rest of the races, including the European and World Championships. This was communicated by Alpecin-Deceuninck:

"On Friday and yesterday, Mathieu was able to continue the race, but the pain did not subside. After consulting with the team's medical staff, it was decided not to take any risks considering the rest of his calendar."

In this video, you can see the save that caused the blow to Van der Poel and could have ended much worse.

Close (very close) call. Wonderful save.

@mathieuvdpoel through the streets of #Tessenderlo during the @RenewiTour TT. #MVDP pic.twitter.com/7ip7y6UV0S

— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) August 29, 2024

Now we can only hope that the current World Champion arrives in the best possible condition at least by September 29 when he will try to defend his title in Zurich.