Mathieu van der Poel plans to compete at Tour de France and delayed Tokyo Olympic Games

ByCarrie Dunn

Updated 30/12/2020 at 09:41 GMT

Dutch rider Mathieu Van der Poel has confirmed his intentions to race in both the Tour de France and the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympic Games - delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. "The Tour is secondary to the Games, but I am also not going to France to come for 10 days and then leave."

Mathieu Van der Poel says he intends to ride in both the Tour de France and the Olympic Games - although he thinks the 2021 schedule is "inconvenient".

"I think I owe it to the sponsors to participate in the Tour," Van der Poel told Belgian publication Sporza. "The season is a difficult puzzle and not only my own ambitions count. I never underestimate the importance of the sponsors. Without them there is no sport. But I can't quite do what I want."

The 25-year-old had already said he intended to race in the Tour for his team Alpecin-Fenix when he saw the course plans - and although the summer calendar may prove a little problematic, he will be racing to win.

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"The Tour is very inconvenient," he said. "The Tour is secondary to the Games, but I am also not going to France to come for 10 days and then leave."

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Van der Poel will be competing in the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics, delayed until 2021 due to the pandemic.

"The delay of the Games is a disadvantage for me. Last year I was where I wanted to be and I was ready for the Games. I had raced almost all the World Cups, I knew where I was in relation to the competition and I felt great on my bike," he added.

"Now a year has passed in which I have barely been on my mountain bike. It is still a question mark. The dream and the hope for Olympic gold is certainly not gone, but it will be a lot more difficult."

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