Mathieu van der Poel leaves Tour de France to prepare for Olympics

The Dutchman will be riding the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics

Mathieu van der Poel
(Image credit: Getty)

Mathieu van der Poel will not take to the start of stage nine of the Tour de France.

The Alpecin-Fenix rider won stage two of the race and held onto the leader's jersey for six days, eventually ceding it yesterday after finishing almost 21 minutes behind Tadej Pogačar, the new leader of the race.

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Chris Marshall-Bell

A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and feature writing across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013.


Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in a number of places, but mostly in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains.


He lives in Valencia, Spain.