Mathieu van der Pol returned to training after his back pain recurred during last Monday's Superprestige round in Heusden-Zolder.

The Dutch rider missed his second cyclocross race of the season following the Boxing Day World Cup round in Dendermonde due to recurring back pain that has plagued him since May.

On Saturday, he rode 60.96 km north of Antwerp, Belgium, and according to Strava (open in new tab) statistics, the 26-year-old completed the flat ride in 1 hour 50 minutes.

It is unclear when Van der Pol will be able to return to racing, but it is a positive sign that he returned to the bike just days after being diagnosed with a swollen disc in his back.

On Friday, his Alpecin-Fenix team boss Christoph Roodhooft said that Van der Poel will not race until he is free from pain and will monitor the situation before committing to cyclocross racing this season.

Van der Poel has already missed Thursday's scheduled Azencross and will also miss today's World Cup in Hulst. He was scheduled to compete in five races during January in preparation for the World Championships at the end of the month, but due to injury, his schedule for the remaining crosses has not been finalized.

He has been in pain since the MTB World Cup in May and missed the MTB World Championships and the Benelux Tour later in the season. After the end of the road racing season, he took a four-week break to work through the problem, but the pain returned last week and it appears that more work is needed to get back to full fitness.

Meanwhile, van der Pol's longtime rival Wout van Aert has been racking up wins since starting his cyclocross season early last month. The Belgian has participated in seven races, including two World Cup races, and has won them all. He returns to action later today in Hulst.