Van der Poel opts for Belgian based Tour de France build-up: "I've been away from home for a while, so it's nice to be back"

After announcing his intention to combine both the World Championship Road Race and the Mountain Bike World Championships, Mathieu van der Poel also clarified his pre-Tour de France race calendar.

Opting against an appearance alongside the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic and the Tour de Suisse, the Alpecin-Deceuninck star will instead be based in Belgium at races such as Dwars door het Hageland and the Baloise Belgium Tour.

"The other two races suit me better," van der Poel said in reference to his decision to skip the Tour de Suisse for the Belgian races. "There are two time trials in the Tour de Suisse. In addition, there is a lot of climbing. I'd rather race with something that gives me a chance to win. In addition, I've been away from home for a while, so it's nice to be back in Belgium with my girlfriend, friends and family."

"This is actually the first time that I go there with a good preparation. It will of course be different from last year anyway," he continues with an eye casted towards the biggest race on the cycling calendar, the Tour de France. "My form is good and I'm happy to be back racing in a few days. It's been a while because Paris-Roubaix was my last race. But that's all part of the plan. At the beginning of this calendar year, we discussed that we want to invest and train a little more. That is at the expense of the number of races. I have a lot of confidence in the upcoming races."