"Our sport is dangerous enough without people starting to throw things at us" - Wout van Aert stands by long time-rival Mathieu van der Poel after Paris-Roubaix controversy

The fallout from Paris-Roubaix 2025 continues to dominate the headlines in the cycling world. Although Mathieu van der Poel stunningly soloed to a third successive success on the iconic cobbles, it is once again crowd troubles aimed at the Dutch superstar that leave a sour taste for the true fans of the sport.

Last weekend, during his history-making win at Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel was struck in the face by a full water bottle thrown from the crowd in the cobbled section at Templeuve while leading the race solo. “This is attempted manslaughter!” a furious Van der Poel told Sporza in his post-race interview afterwards. “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.”

It will be nice for Van der Poel to hear however, that he can count on some of his arch-rivals for support. Arguably his most historic rivalry is that between the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader and Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert. Off bike though, there seems to be a lot of mutual respect between the pair, and Van Aert has recently spoken out in support of his nemesis amidst the ongoing crowd troubles.

"People who behave like that are not welcome on the race as far as I’m concerned," said Van Aert in quotes collected by Het Laatste Nieuws. "Cycling is a sport where you can get close to the athletes and that makes us unique compared to many other sports."

"I really enjoyed the thousands of supporters on the sidelines yesterday and in recent weeks. But our sport is dangerous enough without people starting to throw things at us from the crowd," added the Belgian. "I applaud Mathieu for expressing himself so strongly and I hope it helps to prevent this from happening in the future."