Elite Dutch cyclist pleads GUILTY to assaulting two teenage girls and is fined $1500
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EXCLUSIVE: Dutch elite cyclist pleads GUILTY for assaulting two teenage girls who played ‘knock and run’ at his hotel the night before a world championship race in Australia – if his punishment is revealed
- Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel withdrew from World Cup race
- He was charged with assaulting two teenage girls in Wollongong, NSW
- The 27-year-old is in Australia for the UCI Road World Championships
- Speaking for the first time since, he’s ‘shattered’ and ‘mentally a little broken’
- He has now pleaded guilty to the charges in Sutherland’s local court
- He has been sentenced to pay $1500 in fines for two common crimes
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A Dutch cyclist who sensationally withdrew from a world championship road race has pleaded guilty to assaulting two teenage girls aged 13 and 14 at a Sydney hotel.
Mathieu van der Poel, 27, who has won a stage in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, was due to appear in court on Tuesday but chose to plead guilty to magistrate Hugh Donnelly in Sutherland’s local court on Monday.
He has been ordered to pay $1,500 in fines on two charges of habitual assault.
NSW police claimed the athlete physically confronted the teenage girls at the Novotel in Brighton Le Sands on Saturday night because they played a prank while he was trying to sleep before the race.
According to the police, Van der Poel pushed the two girls, causing one to fall over and the other to crash into a wall with a minor abrasion to her elbow.
Mathieu van der Poel (pictured right with his girlfriend Roxanne Bertels) will appear in Sutherland court on charges of assaulting two girls aged 13 and 14
Van der Poel ran into the two young teenage girls playing ‘knock and run’ at the Brighton Le Sands Novotel (above) and then pushed them over, causing one to fall over
He withdrew from a UCI Road World Championship race – a 266.9km race held in Wollongong, south of Sydney – after being released from police custody at 4am on the morning of the race.
Despite only sleeping for a few hours, Van der Poel stared at the race but stopped at about 11am.
According to his Team Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Christoph Roodhooft, he would have been ‘crushed’ on Monday morning.
“He didn’t sleep all night and was also a bit broken mentally,” Roodhooft told reporters.
He expected a lot from this day (race) and did everything he could in the last two months after his bad Tour de France.
‘He had found joy and happiness in cycling again and was hoping for a great race today.’
The cyclist told the Belgian website Sporza: ‘I went to bed early and many children in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock on the door continuously.
‘After a few times I was done with it. I didn’t kindly ask to stop. Then the police were called and I was taken away.
‘I wasn’t back in my room until four o’clock. That is certainly not ideal. It’s a disaster, but I can’t change anything anymore.’
The four-time cyclocross world champion and 2013 junior road race world champion was one of the favorites to win the rainbow jersey.
Van der Poel is ‘mentally broken’ after pleading guilty to assaulting two young teenage girls and then having to withdraw from the race following his arrest due to exhaustion
Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands drives over the Sea Cliff Bridge during the elite men’s road race at the World Road Cycling Championships in Wollongong, Australia, Sunday, September 25, 2022
Mathieu van der Poel (in the photo with his girlfriend Roxanne Bertels) is accused of assaulting two children