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Video footage of Mathieu van der Poel hotel incident appears online

Three videos appearing to show the moments which led to Van der Poel being arrested for assault were shown to a Dutch news website by one of the girls involved

Video footage has appeared online apparently showing the incident which led to Mathieu van der Poel being charged with assault after confronting teenage girls who repeatedly knocked on his door during the night before the World Championships.

Dutch news outlets AD and Wielerflits were sent the videos, which appear to show a girl about to knock on a hotel room door before her, and a second girl filming, are chased into their own room opposite by a topless man.

The grainy eight-second video has since appeared on YouTube and Twitter but does not show much more than is described in the paragraph above. AD says it has been in contact with the 14-year-old girl involved who has shown them two further videos in which a conversation with Van der Poel in the aftermath can be heard.

> Mathieu van der Poel fined A$1,500 after pleading guilty to assault after hotel incident

The Dutch news website opted against posting the videos — a decision road.cc has followed with the main video in light of the age of the persons involved — but reported, in the longer video one of the girls showed them, a conversation can be heard in which Van der Poel insists he "didn't touch anybody" before one of the girls says the police "are on their way".

In response to a girl's voice saying the incident is "on camera", Van der Poel replies "no problem" before telling them "you can't knock on my door for three fucking hours".

AD says a girl told him he "can't come into my room" and alleges the Dutch cyclist "threatened" them.

Yesterday, Van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck team released a short statement saying they will "follow up in [an] appropriate way" and examine the incident before taking "further steps".

We have taken note of the events that took place in Wollongong in the past 48 hours. Needless to mention everyone loses here, and we can only regret that.

Initially, our focus was on providing legal assistance on-site and on helping Mathieu van der Poel to return home quickly. Now that has happened, we want to get a clear picture of the course of events, through inspection of the complete file (we don't have the court documents yet) and a conversation with Mathieu van der Poel and those involved at Team NL. Based on this, we will determine which further steps to take.

We would like to emphasise that respect for others, inside and outside the peloton, is and always has been a core value of Alpecin-Deceuninck. That is why we want to follow up on this in an appropriate way. Only then will team Alpecin-Deceuninck and Mathieu van der Poel communicate about this again.

The statement followed the announcement that Van der Poel had been fined A$1,500 (£909) after admitting two counts of common assault. According to New South Wales Police, who were called by hotel management, he pushed both of them, with one of the girls falling to the ground and the other sustaining a grazed elbow after scraping it against a wall.

The Dutch star was arrested and taken to a police station where he was charged, and returned to the hotel at 4am.

Having been unable to sleep he abandoned after 35km of the elite men's race, later won by Remco Evenepoel.

Mathieu van der Poel at Wollongong 2022 (copyright Simon Wilkinson, SWpix.com)

Van der Poel had been due to appear in Sutherland Local Court today, but the hearing was brought forward due to the timing of his return flight to Belgium.

After admitting both counts, Van der Poel was fined a total of A$1,500 by Magistrate Hugh Donnelly, who told him that he was wrong to have taken the law into his own hands and should have called hotel security instead.

His lawyer revealed that in the courtroom, Van der Poel's partner "was in tears and he was very disappointed himself."

"He has a great reputation, so does his family. He said it felt like he disappointed his country and his team," the lawyer said.

The rider is now on his way back home, and as a result of his conviction will be unable to re-enter Australia for three years.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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12 comments

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boardmanrider | 1 year ago
8 likes

It strikes me that a number people failed here. Sorry, but the Dutch team should have made better arrangements for their athletes. Letting them stay in what I understand in a below par hotel, especially on the eve of the race is questionable. Secondly the hotel itself clearly had no authority in allowing this to happen. Quite frankly they should have done something about this from the get go. Thirdly the parents should be held accountable for their inexcusable actions. To allow young teenage girls to roam around the corridors late at night and cause havoc beggers belief. The Aussie social services, or child protection authorities should be asking some serious questions.

This wasn't a random punter in the hotel, it was a profesional athlete at the peak waiting as race favourite. So, all that considered; why was he in what appears to be a poorly choosen hotel?

Finally, and I am by no means an expect but is there a case for taking legal action against the hotel and parents? MvP has lost out the chance to race the Worlds, potentially win. The negative backlash could go on and on.

 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to boardmanrider | 1 year ago
2 likes

boardmanrider wrote:

Sorry, but the Dutch team should have made better arrangements for their athletes. Letting them stay in what I understand in a below par hotel, especially on the eve of the race is questionable.

I read elsewhere (and it was on the Internet so it must be true) that the Dutch team did in fact have a whole floor reserved for their team but MVDP was suffering from a cold which he didn't want to pass on to the other athletes so was staying in his girlfriend's room on a different floor. Take it with a pinch of salt of course but that would explain the apparent failure of Dutch team management to keep the public away from their athlete.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes

This is an interesting read (automatic translation in Chrome or other browser of choice is your friend here).

https://sporza.be/nl/2022/09/26/vriendin-op-de-kamer-als-motor-van-de-di...

Seems the mild cold developed later (Saturday), he was with his partner all week, and one of the takeaways from this is that he can be easily distracted and not 100 per cent focused - see eg the comments re the Olympic MTB race, reading between the lines that is more likely to happen when he is with national team, not trade team?

 

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Paul J replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like

This was reported in (at least) Belgian media - and heavily discussed there, probably based on info from the KNWU or others in the team, so I wouldn't doubt it.

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IanMK replied to boardmanrider | 1 year ago
0 likes

I tried to find the hotel on Tripadvisor. All I could find was a Regal Hotel in Rockdale (so just in land from Brighton le Sands). Apart from the terrible reviews it only has 7 rooms so if that's where he was he was then I don't think the rest of the team were on another floor.

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MattKelland replied to IanMK | 1 year ago
0 likes

I think it was a Novotel, which are usually pretty decent mid-range hotels.

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Awavey replied to MattKelland | 1 year ago
0 likes

ABC are stating it was the Novotel Brighton-le-sands, but the hotel are offering no comment at this stage.

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Sriracha | 1 year ago
7 likes

Where were the parents during all this time? Do parents just let their 13-14 year old daughters roam hotel corridors, knocking on doors, at all hours of the night? Surely there is a child safeguarding issue here?

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Paul J replied to Sriracha | 1 year ago
2 likes

And, according to the AD - possibly drawing from Matthieu's statement to the police - Matthieu had already complained to the parents prior to the incident. They had been playing "knock and run" on his door over 2 and half hours by then apparently.

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Secret_squirrel replied to Paul J | 1 year ago
7 likes

The fact that the girls involved (or their mates tbf) are shopping video to the Paps pretty much sums up who lies at fault here.

Where the hell are the parents. WTF are they letting minors speak to the press?

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Paul J replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
2 likes

Good point.

I'd love to see the rest of the video, where people are actually talking. Blur out the minors if needs be road.cc!

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the little onion | 1 year ago
4 likes

Well, it sounds like MvdP was very much the model of restraint here!

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