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Mathieu van der Poel is still suffering the hangover of a brutal bout of pneumonia that knocked him out of the Tour de France.
But that small fact won’t stop him from racing,
MVDP returned to the peloton Sunday at the exhibition criterium in Etten-Leur ahead of his full competitive comeback with Alpecin-Deceuninck on Wednesday at the Belgo-Dutch Renewi Tour.
It could be a tough week in the Low Countries for the 30-year-old, who revealed to reporters Sunday he’s not yet 100 percent.
“Things are going reasonably well, but I don’t know my form,” he told IDL Pro Cycling. “I’ve still been struggling with the illness, but things are starting to improve.”
Van der Poel abandoned the Tour last month after a typically bombastic opening block of stage wins, yellow jerseys, and a vomit-provoking long-range attack with teammate Jonas Rickaert.
Things took a dramatic and rapid turn for the worse on the second rest day.
“I suffered in bed all afternoon, to the point I really couldn’t take it anymore,” Van der Poel told the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad. “That evening, we decided to go to the hospital. That’s when it turned out it wasn’t good.
“I had some serious blisters behind my lungs. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that bad,” he said.
“I thought it was just a common cold and that I was only a little bit ill, so I hoped to feel a bit better after the rest day. But it just kept getting worse.”
Van der Poel called it quits the morning the peloton rolled toward Mont Ventoux.
He’s been spluttering and sweating ever since.
MVDP returns! Stage and overall winner in 2020, and a fan favourite wherever he races. @mathieuvdpoel will be at the start of the Renewi Tour 2025. Get ready to see him in action again from next week! #RenewiTour pic.twitter.com/mfsFLMkCWw
— Renewi Tour (@RenewiTour) August 14, 2025
Van der Poel still planning MTB push
Van der Poel will drag his devastated lungs through five days of classics-style racing in Renewi in the hopes of rebooting his legs for an audacious late-summer smash on the mountain bike.
The all-terrain ace reconfirmed this weekend that the road worlds in Kigali are a long way off his agenda.
It’s MTB or bust for MVDP next month.
Van der Poel said he’s hoping to use the Les Gets round of the UCI World Cup at the end of August as a final tune-up for the cross country worlds in Switzerland.
“The world championships are still the goal,” he told IDL. “But first I want to see how it goes in the Renewi Tour first and then Les Gets.
“The Renewi Tour is there for me to regain race rhythm for the mountain bike,” he said.