Alpecin-Deceuninck explain why Mathieu van der Poel misses MTB World Cups: "We prefer to let Mathieu properly prepare for the Tour and the World Championships"

With just over a year left to the 2024 Olympic Games, those riders who race in multiple disciplines in cycling are at the time to make a choice. Mathieu van der Poel may race the Mountain Biking event but as he puts his focus on the road, he is for the time being skipping the initially planned competition.

"Both we and Mathieu didn't think it was opportune to get everything going for one game," Alpecin-Deceuninck manager Christophe Roodhoft told Het Nieuwsblad. "We prefer to let Mathieu properly prepare for the Tour [de France] and the World Championships, his biggest goals this summer. But the ambition to make it to the Games is still there."

The Netherlands will have two spots for the race and Jumbo-Visma's Milan Vader is set to be another card in the game. Other riders will be in contention for points and the selection towards the big event that's set to take place in Paris next summer, and with the busy calendar that van der Poel has he is not racing off-road now in May as he usually does.

The Dutchman had a tremendously successful spring winning both Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix. With the Tour de France and World Championships both packed together in July and early August van der Poel has decided to take some rest now and properly prepare for what will be his final big goals of the year.