Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Lars van der Haar. © Matthew Lasala / Cyclocross Magazine
Mathieu van der Poel’s assessment of his recovery appears to have been a little premature, as he had surgery this evening, according to our European contributor, Christine Vardaros. The following is from her:
For the last two days, [Van der Poel] rode with relatively no pain but today he could barely make it to the end of the street. He will most likely miss all of October’s racing, which means that all of his classement races for the overalls are gone, such as BPost, Superprestige and World Cups.
As for his left knee surgery, it was for a post-traumatic injury, under local anesthetic, they removed the two upper fascia layers over the kneecap. They seemed to be ripped and lose and were the cause of the inflammation.
Tonight, Van der Poel will stay in the hospital for observation but can go home tomorrow. All next week, he has to wear a pressure bandage to avoid fluid buildup. After that, they will start with electro-stimulation of the knee. This means he will be completely off the bike for three weeks. Zonoven on October 25th would really be pushing it, according to Team manager Christoph Roodhooft.
