"An example needs to be made of this person, whether they were drunk or not" - Mathieu van der Poel's career could have been ended by bottle throw says expert

Mathieu van der Poel stormed to a third successive triumph at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday afternoon in yet another standout performance in the glittering career of the Dutch superstar. Post-race though, much of the headlines were surrounding a shocking example of crowd unrest as one 'fan' threw a full bottle right into Van der Poel's face as he rode past.

Van der Poel himself hit out at the overly aggressive fan when speaking to the media afterwards. “This is attempted manslaughter!” a furious Van der Poel told Sporza, having previously had to deal with instances of crowd members spitting at him and even attempting to throw things into his wheels. “We can’t let this go. It was a full bottle, and it really hurt. If it had hit my nose, it would’ve broken it. Hopefully we can identify the person. I think there should be a trial — this was a direct hit to my face.”

The culprit has now come forward to the police, admitting his error of judgement, but according to Eurosport and TNT Sports expert Matt Stephens, there should be not leniency handed out.

"First and foremost, it’s an assault because someone’s thrown an object clearly with intent - quite remarkably accurate. We’ve seen it in cycling before, we saw it in Roubaix last year. An example needs to be made of this person," Stephens, himself a former British national champion, told TNT Sports' Ultimate Cycling Show. "Whether they were drunk or not, whether it was just reckless. If it was intentional, it’s far more serious."

As mentioned, Van der Poel himself called the incident "attempted manslaughter” and Stephens can easily see why. "If he had come down and fractured his skull or something, we’ve got to realise that’s why Van der Poel is saying ‘attempted manslaughter’ because he was moving at speed on cobbles," explains the Brit. "He could have face-planted and it could have been a career-ender or worse."

"That sort of thing needs to be stamped out and if the right sort of action isn't taken, all it does is open the door for other people to do the same, almost with impunity," adds Stephens in conclusion. "We’ve seen this in our sport, it has no place and I hope the law comes down very firmly on that spectator to set an example to say: ‘In our sport, this is not acceptable.’"