It’s official: Mathieu van der Poel won’t defend his rainbow jersey

In what was certainly an inevitable announcement, Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel will not be racing at Fayetteville, Ark. to defend his crown later this month. Mvdp’s season had just begun before he abruptly suspended his season, citing back pain. The reigning world champion made his highly anticipated return to the mud of World Cup cyclocross in Dendermonde on Boxing Day. That race was dominated by van der Poels career rival, Wout van Aert. The following day, van der Poel DNF’d a Superprestige race in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. That race was, again, won by van Aert.

Van der Poel withdrew from Heusden-Zolder due to back pain, according to Alpecin-Fenix. A medical exam the following day revealed swelling on the Dutch superstar’s spine. The return of MvdP’s back problems put his cyclocross season on hold.

Mathieu van der Poel’s unbelievable start from the third row

“Not the news we’d been hoping to share, but Mathieu Van der Poel won’t defend his world CX title later this month,” a statement on his team’s Facebook posted on Tuesday. “He and the Alpecin-Fenix team management have decided to put a stop to his cyclo-cross season.”

“Because of my back pain I haven’t been able to reach my desired level since Le Tour de France. I just want that to be in the past,” Van der Poel said. “The only remedy turns out to be a longer rest period. So it would be foolish to interrupt this period again and still try to make it to the World Championships. We all agree on that. Even though it is very bitter, I have participated in the World CX Championships 10 consecutive times, not being able to defend my title in the United States is a real downer. I’m not worried about the future of my career, but of course it frustrates me now not knowing how long this rest period will last. We’ll only set a date and goals if we can do so in a substantiated manner. Until then, I’ll do what I can.”