09/08/2023

Van der Poo-el? Dutchman forced to use Scottish couple's home toilet after call of nature during World Championship win

Mathieu van der Poel romped to victory in a thrilling men's World Championship road race over the weekend. Partway through the race however he was forced to answer the call of nature, with an unsuspecting Scottish couple saving the day and allowing the soon-to-be world champion to use their toilet.

"We were thrilled that we could help him any way," Davie Findley, one half of the problem-solving couple told the Daily Record. "All we did was offer a bit of hospitality, which we would always do. Any of the neighbours would have done the same thing. We did feel that it was a bit of an emergency because the team manager came first and asked if we could let one rider use the facilities, who I now take to be Mathieu van der Poel."

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The moment came whilst the race was halted for almost an hour by protests and once van der Poel had been and gone, Findley was soon welcoming rider after rider. "He was such a nice guy and extremely polite and he was so grateful. The next thing we knew there was another rider and then another and I think we had four of the guys from the Netherlands in," he explains.

"I think they were just taking advantage of the lull in the race and enjoying the rest while they got focused for the restart. I heard that Mathieu had a very nice message for us so if we're able to respond to that, I'd like to tell him that he’s very welcome and I'm thrilled that we could help him anyway," he concludes. "It's all a bit surreal to be honest, as we’re aware of what a massive race it was and the incident with the protesters made our home a real focal point in world news for an hour or so."

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Indeed, following the race, van der Poel gave the couple a message of thanks via the press. "It's unbelievable, I'm now the first Dutch world champion in 38 years. It was a crazy day. But I have to go back to the middle of the race for the most important part," he recalled to Dutch TV post-race.

"I had to do a big massive message. I had to knock on the door of a couple's house along the course. I really owe them and I would like to thank them so much. I couldn't have carried on racing without their help. It was the biggest race of my life and it was so kind of these people to let me in their house and let me sit on their toilet."