Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has suggested he may skip the Tour de France in 2025 in favour of a return to mountain biking.
The Dutch star won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the road race world champion's jersey this season but endured a subdued summer, with a relatively anonymous display at the Tour de France.
That has caused him to question whether he wants to return next year, or whether he'd be better off returning to mountain biking, which he sacrificed this year and where he still has unfinished business.
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"To say I was unhappy at the Tour is perhaps a little strong, but I didn't have a good time," Van der Poel told Spanish newspaper Marca during an appearance at a winter criterium event in Alicante.
"On my debut at the Tour [in 2021] I managed to pull on the yellow jersey and my expectations were high. This year I had trouble reaching my top level at the Tour, but I wasn't bad. I know I'm better in one-day races and I'm focusing on them."
Van der Poel has won a glittering array of Classics on the road, including seven Monuments and a World Championship, but his impact on the world's biggest race has been limited. Beyond his storming debut in 2021 when he won a stage and wore the yellow jersey, he hasn't hit the same notes, pulling out mid-way through following the Giro d'Italia in 2022 and then recording a highest stage placing of 12th across the past two editions.
Asked whether he'll return to the Tour in 2025, he said: "We still don't know. It depends how the season goes. I think maybe it's a good moment to try and get back on the mountain bike, if I have time. That's still a big objective for me."
Van der Poel has been a regular on the mountain bike circuit throughout his multi-faceted career but a major international title has so far eluded him. He decided to skip the Olympics this year, but the World Championships remain a big career target, not least since his collection of rainbow jerseys has expanded in recent years. As well as the six cyclo-cross world titles in his locker, Van der Poel won the road race crown last year and recently added an eighth rainbow jersey in the new discipline of gravel. Landing the mountain bike title next summer would make him a world champion across four different disciplines.
Van der Poel has decisions to make next summer but he also has decisions to make this winter, with still no clarity on whether he'll return to the cyclo-cross circuit, where the season has recently got going.
"I still don't know," he said. "We've still not decided, so we'll see."
