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Van der Poel will skip mountain bike event at Paris Olympics to focus on road race

BRUSSELS (AP) — World champion Mathieu van der Poel will focus on the Olympic road race at the Paris Games this summer, after competing in the Tour de France, and skip mountain biking.

The versatile Dutch racer said Wednesday that combining the Tour and the road race is “the most logical” choice.

“It ensures that I have a little more time and thus can prepare longer and better,” he said in a statement released by his Alpecin-Deceuninck team.

Van der Poel has won titles in many disciplines and thought at one point about competing in the cross-country mountain bike event at the Olympics. But he faced what he called a “difficult puzzle to put together” with the route of the road race suiting his skills.

“Just the road race? Only mountain biking? Or both?” he said. “Whether or not in combination with the Tour de France, which I personally consider the best possible preparation for the Games.”

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