He was one of the favorites for the World Cup in Australia, which he had made his main objective since his retirement from the Tour de France.
But Australia turned into a nightmare for the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, forced to retire after just one hour of racing for having spent part of the night… in an Australian police station.
According to the Flemish channel Sporza which revealed the case, the 27-year-old Dutchman, multiple cyclocross world champion and great classic hunter, was arrested by the police on the night of Saturday and Sunday after an incident at the hotel. of the Dutch.
New South Wales Police confirmed a 27-year-old man was arrested on Saturday night and has been charged with two counts of assault.
The man in question is therefore the grandson of Raymond Poulidor.
“At around 10.40pm on Saturday, a man was involved in a verbal altercation with two teenage girls aged 13 and 14 at a hotel in Brighton-Le-Sands.
According to the alleged facts, he pushed the two teenage girls, one falling to the ground and the other being thrown against a wall, causing a small scratch on her elbow,” police said in a statement.
We discuss between Julian Alaphilippe and Thomas Voeckler.
The double defending champion learns of the abandonment of Mathieu van der Poel.
"- Van der Poel, he covered"
"- What? He said hello to me at the start!"
"- Alright, minus van der Poel, watch out."#Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/5CZwpKa2DE
– The Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) September 25, 2022
“Hotel management was notified and subsequently called the police” and “a 27-year-old man was arrested shortly thereafter,” the statement said.
"It's even a disaster"
“He was taken to Kogarah police station and charged with two cases of assault.
He has been released on bail and is due to appear in Sutherland Court on Tuesday, September 27, 2022.
"Yes it's true, there was a little argument," Van der Poel confirmed to journalists at the start of the road race, the queen event of these World Championships in Wollongong, before delivering his version.
“I wanted to go to bed early last night but there were lots of kids in the hotel hallway who kept knocking on my door.
After a while, I was fed up.
I told them, in a not very sympathetic way, to stop.
It was then that the police were called and took me” to the station, he said.
“I wasn't back in my hotel room until four in the morning.
It's certainly not ideal, it's even a disaster, but there's nothing I can do about it.
I will do my best,” Van der Poel said.
But he then gave up after only thirty kilometers of racing….
