Cycling World Cup 2022: co-favorite Mathieu van der Poel arrested before road races in Australia

On Saturday evening (local time) there was a dispute with loud neighbors in the hotel. “There was a small argument. I wasn’t back in my room until four o’clock, of course that’s not ideal. It’s a disaster, but I can’t change it anymore,” van der Poel told the Belgian TV station “Sporza”. said before starting.

The police in the state of New South Wales did not give a name in a statement, but provided information on the incident at the request of the “AFP” news agency. Accordingly, there was a verbal argument between a 27-year-old man and two teenagers aged 13 and 14.

The accused is said to have pushed the young people, whereupon one of the two fell to the ground and the other suffered a small abrasion on the elbow. Police took the man to Kogarah police station, charged with two counts of minor assault. The man has been released on bail and is due to appear in a Sydney court on Tuesday.

Christoph Roodhooft, sporting director at van der Poel’s Team Alpecin-Deceuninck, confirmed the incident. His driver was “devastated,” said Roodhooft: “He didn’t sleep all night and was also a bit mentally exhausted. He promised himself a lot from this day and in the last two months after his bad Tour de France in the Preparation given everything.”

(SID)