Mathieu Van der Poel spends night under police custody following altercation in team hotel

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."

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.