The Corendon Circus team announced Wednesday that Mathieu van der Pol will not compete in the mountain bike cross-country test event for the Tokyo Olympics this weekend.

The Dutchman will instead take part in the Sparkassen-Munsterland Giro on Thursday.

"In this way, we will avoid additional burdens for Mathieu, such as racing on another continent and, obviously, jet lag.

"We want to give Mathieu the chance to finish a great road season.

Van der Pol was one of the favorites to win last week's UCI Road World Championships elite men's road race, but after scoring the winning escape, the 21-year-old cracked and fell.

After Thursday's race, Van der Pol will take a rest before entering the cyclocross season.

In 2020, he aims to compete in the Summer Olympics in cross-country, scaling back his road ambitions until after the Tokyo Games.

After a full season of cyclo-cross, Van der Pol competed in the World Cup on a mountain bike, and despite racing a limited road schedule, Van der Pol is Amstel Gold Race, De Brabanthe Pyle, and Tour of Britain, Dwars door Hlaanderen, and GP Dunant, and he also had a remarkable road season, winning a total of 10 races in 29 appearances.