Mathieu van der Poel, previously labeled as one of the favorites for the World Championship on the road in Australia this Sunday, will not finish that race. The cyclist has left after thirty kilometers into the race, after a chaotic night in the hotel where he stayed in Sydney. After he “lunged” at noisy children in his hallway, Van der Poel was detained for several hours at a police station from Saturday to Sunday to make a statement. He is under arrest and must appear on Tuesday, according to team manager Christoph Roodhooft.
Australian police have confirmed to AFP news agency that a 27-year-old man has been arrested in the riders’ hotel, but no name has been released for privacy reasons. Roodhooft gave a statement to the team bus on Sunday: “Mathieu went to sleep at 9 p.m., but was still awake three hours later because there was continuous noise in the hallway. There was knocking on doors. When that happened to him for the third time, he went outside. It turned out that no parents were present. Mathieu is angry.”
The Australian newspaper the Guardian writes based on a police spokesperson that after this “fierce altercation,” the man pushed the two children, girls, ages 13 and 14. One of the two is said to have suffered a minor abrasion. Van der Poel himself says to have asked the children “not so kindly” to stop beating.
Van der Poel was released on bail at 4 a.m. (local time) and was at the start a few hours later. To the Belgian sports channel Sporza, which was the first to reported of the incident, he said that despite the lack of sleep, he wants to “make the best of it”. With the lack of sleep, he would try to run the race “on adrenaline”. He gave up shortly after the start.