A person has handed himself in to Belgian police in West Flanders after admitting throwing a full bottle of water into the face of Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
In keeping with a report in Nieuwsblad, nothing is understood concerning the man’s identification however he’s mentioned to have expressed remorse for his actions.
Van der Poel was alone off the entrance of the race when the bottle struck him on the Templeuve-en-Pévèle cobbled sector. Happily for the Dutchman, he managed to remain upright and the incident didn’t affect the end result of the race. However it might have been a lot worse.
Talking in his post-race press convention, Van der Poel described the affect of the bottle as feeling like a stone hitting his race, such was the velocity he was travelling at throughout the cobbles. “It doesn’t destroy the enjoyable I had but it surely’s not regular, it was a full bottle, it was like a stone hitting my face,” he mentioned. “It’s not acceptable, in the event that they spit or throw beer it’s nonetheless unacceptable however that is completely different. That is one thing we now have to take authorized motion on.”
He later mentioned to Sporza that his group, Alpecin-Deceuninck, could be pursuing authorized motion in opposition to the spectator if the UCI didn’t get to them first and described the act as “tried manslaughter”.
It’s not the primary time that Van der Poel has been the sufferer of comparable behaviour from the roadside. Throughout final 12 months’s Paris-Roubaix, a spectator tried to throw a hat into his again wheel as he rode to victory within the rainbow jersey as reigning world champion. He has additionally been spat at by folks throughout the E3 Saxo Basic, and he had beer thrown over him in the identical race. The Belgian department of the CPA riders union mentioned final 12 months that it might be pursuing authorized motion in opposition to followers who threw beer on the 30-year-old throughout the Tour of Flanders.
“We wish one thing to be accomplished about those that spoil the ambiance for everybody,” mentioned Bert Scheirlincx, secretary common of the Belgian cyclists’ affiliation, BPCA, on the time. “We’re ready to go all the best way with our civil motion so long as sure impolite followers are punished and cease spoiling the spectacle that our lovely sport has to supply.”
