Mathieu van der Poel joins elite riders testing Paris Olympics MTB course

Mathieu van der Poel just before his last Olympic MTB race came to an end
Mathieu van der Poel just before his last Olympic MTB race came to an end (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel remounts his mountain bike Sunday to ride the Olympic test event at Elancourt hill in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the site for mountain bike competitions at the Paris Olympic Games next year. 

Other elite athletes expected to participate include multidisciplinary World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, four-time French MTB champion Loana Lecomte, reigning women’s XCO European champion Puck Pieterse, Rio Olympics gold medalist and 10-time World Champion Nino Schurter and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Tom Pidcock.

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).