In her first update since being dethroned at the cyclocross World Championships, Marianne Vos expresses uncertainty about when she’ll jump back into competition.
The Dutchwoman has been nursing a hamstring injury since December, which resulted in some sub-par performances (compared to her usual dominating-self) and an earlier end to her cyclocross season.

In a blog post on the RabLiv website, Vos revealed that she has taken some time off the bike and, with a new mountain and road season looming, is first and foremost focused on recovery.

“Full recovery from this injury takes a while, so I have to be patient,” she writes, and expresses uncertainty about when she might start her season.

“At the moment I can’t say when I will return to competition, because I can’t take risks in my recovery,” she said.

The first of the Women’s World Cup series doesn’t start until Ronde van Drenthe on March 15th, but this weekend the Belgian semi-classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kicks off the European road season. It’s presumed that Vos will not compete in the race with her RaboLiv team.

After winning five successive cyclocross world titles (seven in total), Marianne Vos’s reign as women’s world champion came to an end last month when Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France took the rainbow jersey away from her [click here for video of final moments]. Vos is also a three time World Road Race Champion – in 2006, 2012 and 2013 – and also lost that title to Ferrand-Prévot in Ponferrada, Spain, last September.

Marianne Vos is one the most successful female cyclists of all time with approximately 124 professional road wins to her name (according to ProCyclingStats). Belgian great, Eddy Merckx, has hailed her as being “the finest cyclist of [her] generation.”