This mishap on the mountain bike course was fatal to him.
Mathieu van der Poel, the grandson of Raymond Poulidor, who arrived in the skin of a favorite after spending six days in yellow on the Tour de France, saw his medal hopes ruined on the first of the seven laps of the circuit .
đź The spectacular fall of Mathieu van der Poel!
The Dutchman negotiates a jump badly and ends up in the background!
Follow # Tokyo2020 #Olympic Games on Eurosport https://t.co/uggwqWOjy9 pic.twitter.com/t5fEekkBzk
- Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) July 26, 2021
After ten minutes of racing, the 26-year-old Dutchman crashed heavily on landing from a jump over a rock.
Passed over his bike, he remained stunned for a few moments before getting back into the saddle, but more than a minute behind the leaders.
He finally gave up at the end of the 5th round.
Ik was niet op de hoogte, die plank lag er tijdens de verkenning wel.
Enkel meegekregen dat hij op het testevent was weggehaald pic.twitter.com/0kf3PFg7OU
- Mathieu Van der Poel (@mathieuvdpoel) July 26, 2021
Shortly after this incredible fall, Van Der Poel explained that he thought he would find a board when he landed his jump, below the rock, as during the reconnaissance shortly before the race.
He also says he realized that the said board was not present during the test event, several months before the Olympics, which he did not have time to play.
An explanation for Mathieu van der Poel's fall was given by his trainer: "Mathieu said something about the fact that he thought the wooden plank was still there."
This was removed after training, the course was planned without.
# Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/Z9lRShGcBP
- The Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) July 26, 2021
Despite the disappointment, the Dutchman can congratulate himself on not having seriously injured himself in his caper.
However, all the sacrifices made in the hope of a gold medal will have been in vain, starting with his premature retirement from the recent Tour de France.
âIt was in my interest to give up the Tour and concentrate on the Games,â he had justified himself in early July.
"For me, it was impossible to do the entire Tour and get to Tokyo at the top of my game."
Bronze at the 2018 cross-country Worlds, and European champion in 2019, Van der Poel had made this event the priority of his season.