The name of Mathieu van der Poel pointed to several possible scenarios in the World Cycling Championships that were held in Australia. To a fourth consecutive victory in the Elite road race, to a possible podium in the race that ended the competition in Sydney, to an eventual surprise if he did not finish in any of the top three places, also taking into account the power of other teams such as Belgium, France, Australia or the United Kingdom. That last hypothesis was even confirmed, leaving the Dutch out of the top positions. In fact, he even gave up. But what has been pointed out the most is one of the least happy pages of his 27-year career, which has not yet come to an end.
As for the race, the rider from Alpecin who came to the World Championship with three consecutive wins in one-day races including the Wallonia Grand Prix, and who had now finished fifth in the mixed time trial, retired after an hour of racing , in a race that would be won by the winner of the Vuelta, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (the French Christophe Laporte and the Australian Michael Matthews beat the Belgian Wout van Aert in the fight for the podium, all 2.21 minutes behind the first place, while that Nelson Oliveira in 44 and João Almeida in 60 were the best Portuguese). As for everything else, Van der Poel was arrested and charged with assault. a few hours before the test.
The situation, which quickly became a worldwide scandal (and in the Netherlands, which pointed to a new victory for the great reference of the country in the sport), occurred in the hotel where the runner was practicing before the competition. Mathieu van der Poel was resting in his room when a group of children who were playing in the corridor on that floor of the hotel knocked on all the doors. When he in a moment he left the room, the Dutchman allegedly assaulted two girls, 13 and 14 years old, prompting Australian authorities to rush to the scene to arrest the runner.
“A 27-year-old male was involved in an altercation. The man pushed the two teenagers, with one falling to the ground and the other being pushed against a wall, causing a small scratch on the elbow. Hotel management was notified of the incident, who then called the police. Officers from St. George attended and arrested the man shortly afterwards,” a spokesman for the NSW Police, who was in the unit, confirmed to The Guardian on Sunday.
“Yes, the rumors are true. There was a little fight. They were noisy neighbors and they are very strict about this kind of behavior here. I didn’t get back to my room until 4am, which certainly didn’t go well for me. It’s a mess, but I can’t change anything now. I’ll try to do my best. I was in bed early in the morning and suddenly a group of children insisted on constantly knocking on my door. After playing a couple of times, I got tired and stopped asking them to stop in a calm and polite way. Then the police were called to the scene and that’s when they took me,” Mathieu van der Poel admitted even before the competition, in statements quoted by Sporza.
Now, the Dutch driver will go to court next Tuesday, and at the limit you may have to be detained in Australia for a month. However, due to the lack of background and the regret shown to be heard after the incident, everything indicates that this worst case scenario will not be confirmed.
in update
Source: Observadora
