Author of a mediocre season that will have seen him perform at the beginning of the year (winner of the Coppi & Bartali Week, of the Tour of Flanders, 3rd in Milan-San Remo, pink jersey in the Giro), before giving up during the 11th stage of the Tour de France, Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Deceuninck) had done road races worlds a great goal However, an incident that occurred at the hotel the night before the start will undoubtedly have influenced his abandonment after 35 km of racing. Invited to react to the misfortunes of his son, the former Dutch champion Adrie van der Poel gave his feelings to the media Wielerflits.
Video – MVDP, van der Poel could not defend his World Cup chances
“I don’t think I pushed any children”
“It was about half past seven when I found out. My wife had already told me that she had given up. We started reading things on the internet. I sent her a few messages after that, but she didn’t reply. What I understand. I know Mathieu and what he says in his interview corresponds to who he is. He must have been very angry, but I don’t think he pushed the kids. So I don’t think so at all. And it’s word against word. Mathieu can scream sometimes strong or open a door. But it will never attack people.”
“Ik ken Mathieu natuurlijk from door to door. Hij kan best al eens hard roepen of met een deur gooien. Maar hij zal nooit mensen aanvallen.”https://t.co/1Tr6RBqISd
🇦🇺 #wielrennen #koers #cycling #Wollongong2022
@adrievanderpoel @mathieuvdpoel @KNWU @wollongong2022— WielerFlits.nl (@WielerFlits) September 25, 2022
“I think I was in pretty good shape”
“I saw the interviews and the news and it must be true. When you sleep in hotels this kind of thing can happen. It’s very annoying, especially right before the world championships. It’s not a Tour de France where you’re alone in a hotel.” with just one or two teams, there are other people. I think it was also frustration. Mathieu worked hard for two months. I think “he was in very good shape, although he wasn’t 100%. He had a cold but the worst is over. After the mixed relay he rested a lot.” […]
“I understand his reaction: you go to bed on time, these nights are super important. If there is a lot of noise, it may happen that you get out of bed after a while to see what is going on. I think if you go to a hotel like this you have to make sure you manage the floor and if three rooms are empty you pay for those as well. So you always have a free room if you have sick people or a corona case, for example. Is the federation without money? They knew this year was going to cost a lot of money.”
“For Mathieu it’s a little disaster…”
“If you saw Mathieu before the Tour de France or now, they were two completely different people. Mathieu was happy again, he really wanted to participate in these championships. It’s annoying for us, but for him it’s a little disaster.” This doesn’t detract from winner Remco Evenepoel’s performance, but we don’t know what could have happened. We will eventually find out how this incident happened. But I cling to Mathieu’s words. I have no reason to doubt him.”