Arrest kills Van der Poel at World Cup on the road, Evenepoel world champion in a grand way

For a moment, for a moment, it seems as if the Netherlands is again, for the second year in a row, going to take a medal in the men’s road race at the World Cycling Championships. The Belgian Remco Evenepoel has already won after a nice solo, when a small group of riders comes to a standstill less than a kilometer from the finish. Nobody wants to be the first to enter the last meters, so that the rest can sprint out of their wheel.

Pascal Eenhoorn was released a few kilometers earlier on the last climb, but now the riders in front of him suddenly come into view again. He approaches with a higher speed, he passes it, takes a few meters. Could he, like Annemiek van Vleuten, surprise his competitors in the women’s competition?

Things are different, Unicorn is so broken that he can’t keep it up. He lets himself be caught up, a larger group joins, and he no longer participates in the bunch sprint. Eenhoorn is 28th, behind compatriots Bauke Mollema (25th) and Dylan van Baarle (27th) – the latter was second in Belgium last year.

It fitted in with the image of the match for the Dutch squad, which had been de facto beheaded before the race started. Leader Mathieu van der Poel, the rider many thought could become the first Dutch world champion in Wollongong in Australia since Joop Zoetemelk in 1985, got off early in the race.

In jail

The reason that Van der Poel did not want to continue was so bizarre that even his teammates could not believe it at first. Mollema thought it was a joke, Van Baarle knew nothing about it, they told Dutch media on site after the finish. But Van der Poel himself had confirmed the rumors that had been circulating since the early (Australian) morning before the game: he had spent the night before the most important game of the year at the police station.

Van der Poel had gone to bed early at the Novotel in Brighton, south of Sydney. He was startled awake by two noisy children in the hallway, who, according to the Dutch leader, also repeatedly knocked on his room door. After three times, Van der Poel was fed up and he went to get a story.

According to a statement from the local police, Van der Poel would then have pushed the two children – girls aged 13 and 14. One girl would have fallen, the other scraped her elbow against the wall. They then went to the hotel management, who called the police. Around midnight, Van der Poel was taken to the station, where the 27-year-old Dutchman was put in jail and interrogated. Van der Poel denies having pushed the girls.

Van der Poel was only back at the hotel around 4 o’clock, around 7 o’clock he had been able to get some sleep again. His teammates knew nothing at the time, they only heard about the restless night from their leader a few minutes before the start. The damage had already been done by then: Van der Poel still got on his bike, but was mentally and physically so exhausted that he gave up after 30 of the 270 kilometers.

Afterwards a lot of questions remained: What exactly happened in that hotel corridor? Where were the girls’ parents? Why was Van der Poel the only rider sleeping on a different floor? And where was the guidance of the Dutch cycling association KNWU, who was not present in the hotel corridor as well as at the police station?

National coach Koos Moerenhout told NOS afterwards that Van der Poel had a cold when he arrived in Australia, and therefore slept separately. Only after the incident had his leader texted him, Moerenhout said, and then Van der Poel’s confidential adviser and manager Christoph Roodhooft went to the police station.

Van der Poel himself did not want to talk to the press after the game. More will probably become clear next Tuesday when he has to appear in court in the town of Sutherland. Until then, Van der Poel has to stay in Australia – his passport has been confiscated, a standard procedure.

Belgians rule

Where peripheral matters dominated the road race for the Dutch, the Belgians showed themselves during the race. Just like last year, the Belgian team was formed around two leaders: Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. But where things went completely wrong in their own country and the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe won, this time everything went according to plan for the Belgians. Evenepoel reported early in the race, threw his forces just like last year, but was so strong that he was alone in the lead at 25 kilometers. He then soloed to the world title with his time trial skills and was more than two minutes ahead of the numbers two (French Christian Laporte) and three (Michael Matthews from Australia) at the finish.

The 22-year-old Evenepoel concluded a dream year with his victory, in which he also won the Tour of Spain and the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège in addition to the rainbow jersey. He is the first rider to complete such a trilogy since Bernard Hinault in 1980.

Evenepoel has been compared to Eddy Merckx by the Belgians since his teenage years and had to learn to deal with those expectations. This year he seems to have found the way to fully utilize his qualities – he can climb, time trial, sprint. “I don’t think I’ll ever have a better season,” said the Belgian after he became world champion. It could just be modesty.