Mathieu van der Poel fined for spitting at spectators who were a little too "warm": "I had enough of the booing“. The world champion harshly criticizes some spectators present at the Hulst World Cup: spit, beer and urine against Van der Poel!
World champion Mathieu van der Poel appeared calm for almost the entire World Cup, except for a period of around two seconds on the final lap of the Hulst stage. A few minutes before the end of the race, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider approached the spectators and spat in the face of some of those who were leaning over the barriers, then continued towards victory.
VIDEO SPITTING VAN DER POEL
I received a lot of boos. Both during the warm-up and during the race. If you have to behave like this, you better stay home. I won't repeat the sentences I received, they are too heavy: go and ask them – Mathieu Van der Poel
Some fans reported that such people were throwing urine and beer at Van der Poel! The UCI limited itself to issuing a fine of 250 Swiss francs against the world champion for the incident. Van der Poel's frustration may have been amplified by the fact that the Hulst World Cup was held on Dutch soil, making it something of a home race for him. Although he was born and raised in Belgium, the Dutchman's father, Adri, is from Hoogerheide, about 40 minutes from the location of Saturday's race.
We are naturally on Van der Poel's side: ok, it's a bad gesture, but (as they say) someone had to do it since the UCI then fined the poor Dutchman by failing to track down the spectators who were the object of such ignoble attitudes .
