Mathieu van der Poel took a dominant victory in Hulst on Saturday afternoon, continuing his dominant form in cyclocross this winter. Post-race though, that wasn't the talking point.
During the last lap, van der Poel was so far ahead he was able to pretty much do what he wanted around the final few corners. With this luxury, the world champion decided to pull to the side of the course, by the fan barriers and crazily spit at a section of spectators.
Understandably, this action was a hot-topic in his post-race interview. “Already during the warm-up they were booing. Then it's better to stay at home. I've had it with all the booing,” he explains, although he doesn't elaborate exactly what was said. “It's better to ask them yourself. I'm not going to repeat that. These were not things that belong in sport, booing is not appropriate for anyone. After a while it was enough, also for me."
"But it's never easy to win. It is always an hour full throttle in a cross,” continues van der Poel, keen to shift focus back to his dominant victory ahead of Joris Nieuwenhuis and Lars van der Haar. “I was in the wheel, but I kept making too many mistakes, because I didn't see the right lines. I went forward to ride at my own pace. It is a succession of tough parts. That climbing part in particular hurts my legs.”
You think that’s disgusting pal? Come on! Getting crap every lap by some low life scumbags. They deserved everything they got
Yes Buddy,😁, One can respond in kind, in proportion as self defence but not escalate to another level. MVDP has already done that with the children in Australia and who got penalized, himself. He spent the night in jail, DNF the WCRR, had to plead guilty and pay a fine inspite of him not initiating the whole kerfuffle.
This incident joins the one from last week when he had pushed the overlapped rider, the TDF stage with Girmay as his victim while trying to give way for Jasper in the sprint finish, not to mention that bizzare case when he had slapped a teen girl in the hotel at the WC for which he was detained by local police, missing the event. This is from top of my head for last 15 or so months. MvDP seems to have self control and anger management problems. It's his own thing choosing to address it or not, but all those incidents can't be ignored by UCI anymore; this guy should be punished.
Hope they punish him. He should have dealth it in more mature manners. I get he is only a human, but UCI cannot ignore this🙄. Spitting at fans is a big no-no in cycling
Hope the punishment is severe, (StardustDragon +21) what did they say to make him act like that, sure they won't report it. That doesn't excuse his beavyer however. Maybe punish him to miss the races until the world's and even disqualified from this event.
But you should have deal it with more mature way, right? No?
Thats not going to save him from punishment from the UCI
Oh, yes it won't [save him from punishment]! Spitting a fan is a big no no. He should have deal it in a more mature way. I would report the UCI, if I was spitted like that🙄🤦🏻.