Mathieu van der Poel named to Dutch Olympic Team
Alpecin-Fenix rider officially headed to Tokyo for mountain bike event
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinksi / Red Bull Content Pool
On the same day as Mathieu van der Poel made a very successful return to road racing at Tour de Suisse, the Alpecin-Fenix rider was officially named to the Dutch Olympic mountian bike team.
With two Short Track World Cup wins to his name already in 2021, it’s not surprising that van der Poel would qualify for the Dutch Olympic team. It does, though, come after the Alpecin-Fenix rider’s year-long absence from racing mountain bikes. In his return to World Cup XCO, van der Poel has struggled to match the pace in full distance events. He faded in Albstadt, then failed to match the pace of Tom Pidcock in Nove Mesto.
Van der Poel’s participation in Tour de Suisse means he will be absent when World Cup cross country racing resumes this weekend in Austria.
Strong Dutch team ready for Tokyo
The four-rider team will include Milan Vader, Anne Tauber and Anne Terpstra. All four riders have significant wins and podiums, putting the Dutch squad in a strong position going into Tokyo.
“I think with Mathieu van der Poel we definitely have a medal candidate for the men’s race, but the other three have also shown in the past that they can participate in a competitive race and podium on a good day,” said coach Gerben de Knegt in the KNWU press release announcing the team.
“We got a good impression thanks to a test race, where Anne Terpstra finished third,” said de Knegt, adding that he thinks the Olympic XCO course suits his team’s strengths. ” The mountain bikers are presented with a course with relatively short climbs, it will come down to power and speed in Tokyo. That suits our athletes well and the course is also very trainable for our riders in the run-up to the Olympic Games.”
