Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has suffered a significant injury setback after he crashed twice in his return to MTB racing at the WHOOP UCI MTB World Series on Sunday in Nové Město.
He has ripped some of the ligaments in his wrist, with the ligament damage causing a splinter of bone to effectively be pulled away from the scaphoid bone in his wrist.
As the injury is to the area where his hand meets his wrist, he will not race and cannot train, certainly on the road, for an unknown period of time. He has now canceled his plan to travel to the French Alps to begin an altitude camp.
It's a significant setback for a rider who enjoyed a very successful spring, winning Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and E3 Saxo Classic and placing 3rd in the Tour of Flanders.
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Van der Poel had been due to ride Critérium du Dauphiné next month as he began the second half of his season but that plan is now in doubt and it remains unclear how the remainder of the season will be impacted by what can become a complicated injury.
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His team confirmed the news, saying he had been diagnosed with "a minor avulsion fracture of the scaphoid bone, indicative of ligament damage to the wrist".
An avulsion fracture involves a fragment of bone being pulled away from a main bone during the course of damage to a ligament or tendon.
"This type of injury requires a cautious and carefully monitored recovery process," Alpecin-Deceuninck said. "The timeline for resuming training and competition will depend on the evolution of swelling and pain over the coming days.
"At this stage, it is therefore premature to provide a definitive prognosis or to outline the trajectory of the coming weeks. Consequently, Mathieu van der Poel will not travel to La Plagne for the first days of the planned altitude training camp.
"The injury will be subject to continued and intensive medical evaluation throughout the week. Further assessments, scheduled towards the end of the week, may offer greater clarity regarding his program and the potential for participation in the Critérium du Dauphiné."
