© BELGA
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Mathieu van der Poel postpones his season debut in the field by a week. Normally, the World Cup in Rucphen on December 18 would be his first game of the season. But because his knee injury is healing more slowly than initially expected, Van der Poel will only ride his first cyclo-cross on December 26 in Dendermonde. The rider and the team management have decided this after consultation with the performance and medical staff of the team. Van der Poel was not able to complete any specific cyclo-cross training for the time being. Van der Poel had fallen in the woods during training at the end of November. He sustained a flesh wound to his knee. As a result, he arrived four days later than planned at a training internship in Benicasim and he had to reduce his training sessions a bit. The result is that VDP only a week later than planned to start his season. In the cyclocross of Dendermonde on December 26, he will immediately meet Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock at his cross debut this season.(vva)
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