Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, one of the figures of world cycling, was arrested hours before he contested the World Championship long-distance event in Wollongong over an altercation with two teenagers at the hotel where he was staying.
“There was a little fight. I wanted to go to bed early yesterday [sábado] at night, but there were many children in the corridor of the hotel, who kept knocking on my door. At one point I was fed up. I very kindly asked them to stop. Then the police were called and they took me away,” the Dutch runner told journalists before the start of the long-distance race, which he would give up about 30 kilometers after the start.
Police in New South Wales (Australia), without ever identifying Van der Poel, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that they had arrested a 27-year-old man (the cyclist’s age), charged with two counts of “assault” against two teenagers, 13 and 14 years old.
“By 22:40 [locais, menos nove horas em Lisboa] On Saturday, a man was involved in a verbal altercation with two teenagers aged 13 and 14 at a Brighton-Le-Sands hotel. According to the alleged facts, he pushed the two teenagers, one fell to the floor and the other was thrown against the wall, leaving a small scratch on his elbow.”the police said in a statement.
In the same note, Australia’s East Coast State Police said that after the incident, the hotel management was “informed” and “when the police were called”, with “a 27-year-old man being detained shortly afterwards”. was taken to Kogarah Police Station, where he was charged with “two counts of assault”.
Van der Poel has been released on bail and is due to appear in Sutherland court outside Sydney on Tuesday.
The two-time winner of the Tour of Flanders and first leader of the 2022 Giro, who was one of the favorites to conquer the rainbow, told reporters he was back in his room by “4 a.m.”.
“It’s not ideal. It’s a disaster, but I can’t do anything. I’ll do my best,” he added before the start of the long-distance race, which he withdrew because he was “mentally broken,” according to de Alpecin -Fenix manager.
Christoph Roodhooft noted that ‘MVDP’ had high ambitions for Sunday’s race, won by Belgian Remco Evenepoel, before revealing more details about the incident involving the Dutch rider.
“Mathieu went to bed at 9pm and at midnight there was still noise. The kids were having fun in the hallway and knocking on his door. He went out to tell them to stop, but clearly not in the best way” he reported. , noting that the cyclist “couldn’t sleep” after returning from the police station.
Source: DN
