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Mathieu van der Poel says racing 2021 Tour de France a possibility

Will race mountain bike at Tokyo Olympic Games

After a long season on the road, triple threat Mathieu van der Poel recently returned to cyclocross and had been winning everything in sight, including the first World Cup, DVV Trofee and Superprestige races he has contested. He’s also been outlining his 2020 in the press.

On Thursday, he told Dutch website NUsport that he has a vague target of the 2021 Tour de France in his sights. “Next year I will not ride the Tour anyway because I want to participate in the Games on the mountain bike and both events coincide badly on the calendar,” van der Poel said. With his Corendon-Circus team he’s focusing on the Spring Classics on the road and the Olympic Games on the mountain bike. The Road World Championship course in Switzerland is perhaps a little too climby for him.

On the fat tire bike van der Poel skipped two of the seven rounds of the World Cup and won three events to place second overall to Nino Schurter.

Mathieu Van der Poel wins mountain bike World Cup round in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic.

However, a 2020 Vuelta a España Grand Tour debut is a possibility. “Maybe participating in the Vuelta a España is going to be an option, but I’m not deciding that yet,” van der Poel said. Corendon-Circus is confident that it can wrangle a wildcard invitation to the race despite there being fewer spots for wildcard teams in Grand Tours in 2020 because of one extra WorldTour squad.