"That could have ended his season" - Adam Blythe fumes at 'fan' who threw cap towards Mathieu van der Poel's wheel during Paris-Roubaix

Not for the first time recently, Mathieu van der Poel was the subject of some questionable behaviour from 'fans' at the roadside during Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, with Eurosport's Adam Blythe left seething at the stupidity of those involved.

Having attacked clear solo, van der Poel was over a minute and a half clear with just over 40km to go, when on a stretch of cobbles, a clearly visible woman at the roadside deliberately threw what seemed like her cap at the world champion, narrowly missing his back wheel.

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"It's disrespectful," fumed Adam Blythe afterwards on Eurosport's The Breakaway. "Everything around that, they [the perpetrators] don't understand the preparation before it, they don't understand all the sacrifice he's made. That could have been a crash that could have ended his season, not just that race. That's what they don't understand with it. They don't understand the whole expense of the team, his life, his family, everything around it that could just go down like that."

With the incident already under investigation and calls for information about the woman in question ongoing, Blythe's Breakaway companion, Daniel Lloyd wants to see justice prevail. "It seems like a really good step doesn't it? We can identify them hopefully, because it's such a small, small minority that could potentially spoil things for the rest," he says. 

"I don't think they're going to barrier the entire length of the 57kms of cobbles each year, but they might start to do something which makes the fans stand further back so that they can't impede the riders in the way that we sometimes see," Lloyd concludes. "One of the great parts of this sport is that you can get so up close and personal but don't touch them or throw anything at them."

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"Mathieu van der Poel was just leagues better than the rest of us today" - Mads Pedersen typically honest post-Paris Roubaix

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