Tony Martin has announced that he will not be competing in the 2020 Games in Tokyo next summer.

The four-time time trial world champion German feels that the Tokyo course is too hilly for him to have a realistic chance of success.

Instead, his main goal this season is to win his fifth world title at the Aigle Martigny in September 2020.

"My plan is to skip the Olympics in order to be 100% ready for the World Championships.

The time trial course for the Tokyo Olympics will consist of two laps of a 22.1 km circuit that starts and finishes at Fuji Speedway. The circuit is undulating, with a major uphill at the halfway point, for a total elevation gain of 846 meters over the two laps.

"My manager, Jörg Werner, saw the course there and said it was very difficult.

"Of course, the Olympics are always special, so it would hurt to miss it.

Martin won a silver medal in the time trial at the 2012 London Olympics, but four years later in Rio he slumped to 12th place; by the 2024 Paris Olympics he will be 39 years old.

Martin won three consecutive world titles from 2011 to 2013 and a fourth in 2016. If he wins a fifth world title in Switzerland, he will overtake Fabian Cancellara as the world record holder. Although the world championships are held in the Alps, the 46 km course between Aigle and Martigny is mostly in a valley.

Martin finished ninth at this year's World Championships in Yorkshire, but suffered a severe crash at the Vuelta a España.