Mathieu van der Poel is according to his team Alpecin-Deceuninck on the mend. The thirty-year-old rider had to leave the Tour de France on Monday due to pneumonia.
“The antibiotics are doing their job,” team leader Christoph Roodhooft said to Sporza on Saturday. “Mathieu still hasn’t cycled, but he is on the mend. After this weekend he can normally get back on the bike quietly.”
Van der Poel won the second stage of the Tour in Boulogne-sur-Mer and wore the yellow jersey for a total of four days. Later in the Tour he caught a cold, after which his situation deteriorated and he went to the hospital for examination.
“It was good that we were quick, but you also have to be careful with it and see that there is no damage,” said Roodhooft. “We’ll see what we do in the coming months, but he will be training again at the beginning of next week.”