Mathieu van der Pol says he may miss the 2021 Tour de France in favor of the Tokyo Olympics.

The 2021 Tour de France closes in Paris on July 18, with the men's road race six days later on Saturday, July 24; the women's road race on Sunday, July 25, will take place 14 days after the Giro Rosa ends on July 11.

Van der Pol will target the men's mountain bike race in Tokyo. Before winning the Etihad Cross in Bredene on Wednesday, he told VTM Nieuws that, despite earlier reports, he would choose the Olympics over the Tour de France if it required a 14-day quarantine.

Van der Pol had recently confirmed that his Alpecin Phoenix team would compete in the Tour de France after being assured an invitation to the 2021 World Tour race.

After the Tour de France and Giro Rosa, riders and national team staff were expected to travel to Japan with restricted quarantine because they had participated in a UCI-approved bubble prior to the race, had been quarantined prior to travel, and had received COVID-19 vaccinations. It was expected that they would travel to Japan under restricted quarantine.

A so-called "athlete track" system was planned, whereby athletes would undergo several rounds of screening instead of going through quarantine. However, new rules announced by Japan set a 14-day quarantine period, and on Monday Japan suspended the entry of non-resident foreigners arriving from most of the world. Japanese authorities are also not convinced that vaccination will halt the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The number of new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in Japan reached 3,608 on Tuesday, exceeding 3,000 for the first time in three days. The number of severe cases in Tokyo remains at the highest level since early May. While this number is lower than in other parts of the world, it is a concern for Japanese officials who want to apply the same rules to the general public and athletes.

The need to respect the 14-day quarantine period may force many major athletes to choose between the Tour de France and the Olympics.

Remco Evenepaul, Tao Geoghegan Hart, and Vincenzo Nibali are expected to compete in the Giro d'Italia in May, while Julian Alaphilippe, Wout Van Aert, Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar, Marc Hirschi, and 2016 Olympic road champion Greg Van Avermaat are expected to compete in the Tour de France, and their professional teams are unlikely to miss the sport's biggest Grand Tour. [Johan Berlemans, chief physician for the Belgian Olympic Committee, told Sporza, "Two weeks ago we received from the organizers in Tokyo an updated version of their requirements.

"Logistically, this quarantine period is not easy for the athletes in terms of training, and it coincides with other events such as the Tour de France, Wimbledon, and the NBA.

"Depending on the IOC, the quarantine period could be much shorter; it is the Japanese authorities who are adamant about the two-week quarantine."

The UCI could not be reached for comment by Cycling News. However, Tom Van Dam, head of the Belgian Cycling Federation and president of the Professional Cycling Council, said that if the 14-day quarantine rule is still in place after 2021, cycling will have to accept it.

"I am sure the UCI will discuss this with the IOC, but whether they can change their decision is another matter," he told Sporza.

"In any case, it is great that the Games are taking place. If other sports have to comply with quarantine rules, then cycling should do the same. "

Juan Avermaat offered two solutions: reduce quarantine or move the road race date to the end of the Olympic schedule.

"If the athletes have to choose between the Tour and the Games, we will not have the strongest field in Tokyo," he told Sporza. [Either the quarantine must be reduced from 14 days to, say, five days, or the road race and time trial must be moved to the end of the Olympics. That way, the 14-day quarantine would allow them to participate in both the Tour and the Olympics."