Mathieu van der Poel: Team and sponsors want me at Tour de France but Olympics mean more to me

Dutch Mathieu Van Der Poel after winning the mens elite race at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Oostende Belgium Sunday 31 January 2021 BELGA PHOTO POOL Photo by POOLBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images
Mathieu van der Poel at the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Ostend (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

After his fourth Cyclo-cross World Championships win on Sunday, Mathieu van der Poel has once again confirmed that the elite men's mountain bike race at the Olympic Games is of greater importance to him than competing at the Tour de France this season.

He said that his Alpecin-Fenix team and sponsorship commitments are the main reason that he will race on the road in July. The Dutchman admitted on Monday that he had contemplated skipping the Tour.

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.