Mathieu van der Pol has indicated that he will compete in the 2021 Tour de France for sponsors, according to a report in Sporza (opens in new tab). The Dutch rider for Alpecin Phoenix said he owes it to his sponsors to make his French Grand Tour debut so that he can focus on the Tokyo Olympics next summer.

"I think I owe it to my sponsors to participate in the Tour," van der Pol told Sporza. 'The season is like a difficult puzzle, and it's not just about my ambitions. I never underestimate the importance of sponsors. Without them there would be no sport. But I can't easily do what I want."

In October, Van der Pol's Alpecin Phoenix team topped the UCI European Tour rankings released by the UCI with 4,788 points.

Van der Pol had already admitted in November in an article in L'Equipe that he would compete in next year's Tour de France after seeing the 2021 Tour de France route announced in Paris. At the time, he considered a stage win at Alpecin-Phoenix important.

Van der Pol also intends to compete in the mountain bike cross-country race at the Tokyo Olympics in late July, but has not yet decided on the entire summer 2021 program.

"The Tour is very inconvenient. The Tour is secondary to the Olympics, but I don't intend to stay in France for 10 days and then go home."

Van der Pol has a major goal of competing in mountain biking at the Olympics, but it was postponed this year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus and moved to next summer instead.

"The postponement of the Games is not good for me. Last year I was where I wanted to be and ready for the Games. I rode most of the World Cup, I knew where I was and I felt good on the bike.

"A year has gone by with very little mountain biking. There are still question marks. My dreams and hopes for an Olympic gold medal have not disappeared, but it will be more difficult."[19