❗️Race update @mathieuvdpoel 🇳🇱 has decided to abandon the Men Elite Road Race here at @wollongong2022. #Wollongong2022
Mathieu Van der Poel spends night under police custody following altercation in team hotel
CyclingSunday, 25 September 2022 at 08:34
Mathieu Van der Poel had to spend late Saturday night at the Australian police station. The Dutchman was involved in an altercation with two children who had been knocking on his hotel room door. One child was injured, and police were called. "It's a disaster, but I can't change anything anymore," he told Sporza.
According to him, a number of children allegedly knocked on his hotel room door several times. When he tried to reason with them, it turned into a dispute. "It's true, yes. There was a small dispute. It was about noisy neighbours, and they're pretty strict here. I wasn't back in my room until 4 o'clock. That's definitely not ideal. It's a disaster, but I can't change anything anymore. I'm trying to make the best of it,” said Van der Poel.
He lost the much needed sleep which resulted in a poor performance in World Championship. "I was in bed early, and a lot of kids in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock continuously. After a few times, I was done with it. I not so kindly asked them to stop. Then the police were called, and I was taken away."
After some time, Australian authorities released a statement which read, "Mathieu van der Poel became involved in a verbal dispute with two teenagers aged 13 and 14. Van der Poel pushed both girls. One of them fell to the ground, the other teenager was pushed against the wall and suffered a minor injury to her elbow."
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He also lost access to his passport till the hearing of the case. “Van der Poel was expected to report to the court on Tuesday. His passport would have been taken,” said Australian authorities. Although he did start the race but gave up after riding for 35 kilometers.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024