When the IOC announced the postponed Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games schedule on Friday, the elite men's road race remained set for July 24, one day before the end of the Tour de France. This schedule puts the world's best climbers in an impossible situation. Concentrate on the Tour de France, the biggest race in cycling and a big money-maker for their trade team sponsors, or go for their country's gold medal on the mountainous Tokyo circuit? French national coach Thomas Voeckler says the conflict is "extremely problematic" for the elite men.

"It's a complicated situation, to be honest," Voeckler told RMC Sport (opens in new tab). The Frenchman retired from professional cycling in 2017 and replaced Cyril Guimard as national team coach in 2019.

"I have known for a long time that the Olympic route is for climbers. The best climbers are in the Tour de France. To ask them to skip the Tour for a hypothetical result is almost impossible. We are still hopeful that things will not continue as they are and that a solution will be found."

The ASO asked the organizers of the Copenhagen Grand Depart scheduled for July 2 to move the race up a week, but local organizers declined the request due to a conflict with the European soccer championships to be held there. Meanwhile, on Friday, the IOC announced the schedule, keeping the overlap with the Tour. [Julien Alaphilippe is not only a medal contender for Tokyo, but also a key Tour rider for the Dusninck-Quick Step team.

"We saw that it would not change. Is this a firm, irrevocable decision? If it stays the same, it will be a very big deal for France and the rest of the world, and for the Tour and for the value of the Olympic road race."

While the Olympic Games are valuable to countries that count on medalists to bring in funds for their Olympic sports programs, the Tour de France is much more valuable to the trade teams whose sponsors count on the exposure of the race. These sponsors pay the salaries of the riders.

"Even if there was a culture of Olympism in road cycling, sponsors get far more media exposure for the Tour than for Olympic races," says Voeckler. Most sponsors ask their best riders and best climbers to compete in the Tour rather than the Olympics." I am convinced of that and it is logical."

"It is also logical that the best riders in the world also compete in the Olympic road race. A solution must be found. Asking athletes to skip the Tour is a huge sacrifice. We can't even ask for that. The riders will go wherever they want. The Tour and the Olympics are a dream. But in the Tour you have three weeks to express yourself. In the Olympics, there are only three beautiful places."