Mathieu van der Poel resigned on Sunday on the final day of the World Cycling Championships in Australia. He did so after completing just 30 of the 267 kilometers of the road race. The Dutch captain had had a bad night because of an incident in the hotel where he was staying. He was taken by the Australian police and was not back in bed until 4am.
“This is a disaster, but I can’t change it anymore,” Van der Poel told Belgian channel Sporza before the game. The cyclist said that he went to bed early on Saturday evening (local time) because of the road race on Sunday. “A lot of children in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock on the door continuously while I wanted to sleep before an important day. After a few times I was done with it. I didn’t ask so kindly to stop. They called the police and I was taken,” said Van der Poel.
He was not allowed to return to his hotel until hours later. “I’m trying to make the best of it. It’s on little sleep that I will race, I hope I can do it on adrenaline. It certainly wasn’t fun. It is what it is, I have to deal with it,” said him about it.
Earlier this week, Van der Poel said that he hoped to be able to take the rainbow jersey on Sunday.