Mathieu van der Pol will make his debut in Milan-San Remo, his Alpecin Phoenix team announced today.

The Dutch rider has been away from racing since the beginning of the year, recovering from a long-standing back injury, but will make a dramatic comeback in one of the world's biggest races.

Van der Pol has increased his training in recent weeks, showing that he is pain-free and on the road to recovery, but his spring classic campaign has always been in doubt, and Milan-San Remo was widely dismissed as premature.

However, there was a void in the list of Alpecin Phoenix athletes competing in La Classissima, and Van der Poel was given the green light from a medical standpoint.

"There were several players on the team who were sick or injured, so only six could compete in La Primavera. Van der Pol's return was already scheduled for Tuesday at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, so the decision was taken on Thursday to add him to the Milano-Sanremo roster," the team announced at noon on Friday.

"Van der Pol's training in recent weeks has been satisfactory and his back problems seem to be gradually resolving. Nevertheless, the team management does not want to put pressure on the four-time cyclocross world champion.

"The 293 km race was prioritized over Saturday's training session to gain extra kilometers in the race. After Milan-San Remo, van der Pol will stay in Italy for the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

The Alpecin Phoenix will be in action on Tuesday with Lionel Taminiau, Oscar Riesebeek, Joerd Backes, Eddie Anderson, Sam Gaze, Yasper Philipsen, Christian Sbaralli, Jonas Ricard, Jay Wein, Alex Bognar and others who are ill or injured. Taminiau returned from a broken collarbone in Milano-Torino on Wednesday, and Sbaralli recovered from bronchitis to race.

Fabio van den Bosch missed Friday's Breden Koksijde Classic and was replaced by Guillaume van Kersburg; Taminiaux, Simon Dehairs, Scott Thwaites, Dries De Bondt, Tim Merlier, and Alexander Krieger will race in Belgium on Friday.

Sbaragli and Jasper Philipsen are the only competitors confirmed for Milan-San Remo.

Van der Pol has been suffering from back pain since last summer, when he switched between road and mountain bike racing to prepare for his Tour de France debut and the Tokyo Olympics. After leading the Tour de France for six days, the Dutchman abandoned the race and headed to Tokyo, but suffered an unfortunate fall on the first lap of the cross-country race and was eliminated from the event.

The fall did not do his back any good and he missed the MTB World Championships and the Benelux Tour, but returned to the road late last year, winning the Antwerp Port Epic and finishing third in Paris-Roubaix.

After finishing the cyclocross season with a second race in December, van der Poel was diagnosed with a swollen disc; after being forced to rest throughout January, van der Poel returned to light training and headed to Spain in early February, where he stayed until this week.