The Belgian Cycling Federation will not announce which athlete will win the second of the two Olympic men's individual time trial slots until early June 2021 because the Tokyo Games have been postponed until next summer due to the coronavirus outbreak, Belgian media reported.

Deceuninck-QuickStep's Remco Evenepoel is already in first place thanks to his 2019 European Championships time trial win, but Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Victor Campenaerts ( NTT), Wout van Aert, Laurens De Plus (both Jumbo-Visma) and Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) are vying for the last spot.

Between now and early June next year, these contenders may have the opportunity to show their skills against the clock at the European Championships in late August, the World Championships in late September, and the time trial stage of the rescheduled Grand Tour.

However, Belgian Cycling technical director Frédéric Brochet said that after considering all factors, including the important point that both TT riders are also part of the five-man Olympic road race national team, he will not decide who to select until next June He said.

"If a Belgian rider wins the time trial at the World Championships, that will certainly be part of our evaluation, but even then he will not be directly qualified for the competition," Brochet told Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday.

Further complicating matters is the fact that, as it stands, the Olympic men's road race (which TT athletes must participate in) will be held on Saturday, July 24, the day before the end of the 2021 Tour de France. The Tour arrives in Paris on Sunday, July 25, and many of the candidates will likely come from professional teams.

Denmark, the host country of the Grande Parle, does not believe that the Tour can be held earlier than its current July 2 start date due to the UEFA European Football Championship matches being held in Copenhagen in late June and Euro 2020 being postponed to 2021. Therefore, Tour organizer ASO is reportedly considering Brittany as an alternative venue for next year's Grande Parle and may move the start date earlier

.

"If things go as currently planned, the competition will overlap with the 2021 Tour, so we will have to make a choice," Brochet said of potential Olympic TT candidates who may be considering participating in the 2021 Tour.