Dutch cyclist who left Tour de France for Olympics out of medals after hard fall

Mathieu van der Poel dropped out of the mountain bike race at the Tokyo Games on Monday. The Dutch cyclist, who left the Tour de France in order to participate in the Olympics, saw his gold medal dreams shatter in a hard fall during the opening phase of the race, NU.nl reports.

Van der Poel went down hard during the first of seven rounds in the race. The 26-year-old cyclist flew over his handlebars during the most technical part of the Izu MTB Course course, the Sakura Drop.

He got up and started an almost impossible chase, overtaking a number of cyclists, but just couldn't catch up to the front runners. He gave up in the fifth round.

The Dutch cyclist plans to continue mountain biking for at least three more years, so that he can again try for Olympic gold at the 2024 Games in Paris.