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The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, since last Sunday four-time cyclocross world champion, will now focus on road cycling until the moment of facing his great challenge of the year: winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the mountain bike discipline.

Now focused on the road after putting the golden touch to the cyclocross season, Van der Poel will sharpen his form from the end of the month in the UAE Tour, with the aim of arriving at one hundred percent to the Tour of Flanders, where he will defend the title, and the Paris-Roubaix, where he will make his debut.

After the classic races, the time will come to aim for his dream of the 2021 season, the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Games, although the Alpecin Fenix team will include him in the Tour de France, despite the rider's different plans.

"I won't go to the Tour de France reluctantly, saying that would be an exaggeration. I understand the commercial interests of our sponsors and it is the team that pays my salary at the end of the month. You have to give in, and besides, I am a rider who already has many privileges. There are not many teams where you can combine three disciplines with complete freedom. It is not a punishment to have to participate in the Tour," explained the world champion.

Forced to participate in the Tour, now Van der Poel's plans involve starting the French race and abandoning it on the second rest day to focus on the Tokyo event.

"I will mainly do mountain biking in the weeks leading up to the Tour de France. It is not ideal, but the Olympics are more important to me. Normally, I can switch quite well from one discipline to another, but last year, I saw that my feelings on the mountain bike were decreasing because I trained less on it," he explained. (D)