The European cyclocross season has one more event with tomorrow night’s mostly-paved Soudal Classics Cyclocross Masters, but Mathieu van der Poel, who is scheduled to start the event, isn’t resting with his legs up. Instead, the 2015 World Champ is already in his offseason mode, not lying on the beach but playing with his toys, taxing his whole body and getting big air.
Some more pictures of @mathieuvdpoel doing a MX training today. #YellowMagic pic.twitter.com/CfH7H8P2dh
— Suzuki World MXGP (@SuzukiWorldMXGP) February 21, 2017
Boys will be boys, so the saying goes, but the sight of MVDP hopping on his dirt bike might make his fans and team nervous, given his offseason injury history with two wheels and big jumps. The young star injured his knee last spring in a BMX accident after just installing SPD pedals on his bike, his team manager told us in Vegas, and required knee surgery to repair the damage.
The knee problems delayed Van der Poel’s cyclocross season start, but didn’t seem to slow him down as he opened his season (and ended it) on a tear.
While Van der Poel’s knees don’t seem to be keeping him from dominating his competitors, they’re not quite as good as new. He has revealed he does not do much running training now due to his knee injuries, and admitted, “Sometimes I have a little bit of trouble but it’s not very bad.”
Van der Poel told Cyclocross Magazine in an interview two weeks ago that he hopes this season’s start will be different, and aims to make it to the U.S. Cyclocross World Cups. “I’m going to try my best to have an injury-free summer,” he said.
Hopefully he landed this jump just fine:
.@mathieuvdpoel on a @suzukicycles @ #Lommel, followed by @kevinstrijbos. #YellowMagic pic.twitter.com/Oemkel51QI
— Suzuki World MXGP (@SuzukiWorldMXGP) February 21, 2017
