"Combination is possible": Mathieu van der Poel will be able to ride both road race and MTB at the 2028 Olympics

Mathieu van der Poel has already become world champion in cyclocross, gravel and on the road. However the elusive mountain bike rainbow stripes have slipped through the Dutch phenomenon's fingers multiple times, and the same goes for a big Olympic medal. In Tokyo 2021, Van der Poel crashed in training and later abandoned the race. Three years later in Paris, he didn't participate at all. His next big opportunity will come in Los Angeles in 2028.

We already know the Olympic Games in 2028 will take place in the second half of July, most likely colliding with Tour de France which is likely to be pushed a week earlier in the calendar again for this reason. Now the big question was whether Van der Poel will be forced to make decision between road cycling and mountain bikes in United States.

And the same applies for his compatriot Puck Pieterse who will be among the hot favourites to take one of the medals in Olympic cross-country.

"There are five days between the mountain biking and the road races," KNWU technical director Wilbert Broekhuizen notes in an interview with NOS. "So a combination is possible for Puck and Mathieu, that's how we're looking at it. And for Lorena, a combination of the road race and the track is possible."

The next Summer Olympics are still three years away, but the KNWU (Royal Dutch Cycling Union) is already preparing for the global event. "We want to be the best-prepared country in the world," says Broekhuizen.

"The journey there takes eleven hours, and there's a nine-hour time difference. That's quite a distance. As an athlete, you want to be there on time."

The delegation has already identified a base where the Dutch athletes can acclimatize once they arrive in Los Angeles. "We've found a location an hour and a half's drive south of Los Angeles. Typically, you're only allowed into the Olympic Village five days before your competition, so this location gives us more opportunities to allow athletes to prepare earlier and more thoroughly."