Further details of the altercation and assault case involving Mathieu van der Poel and two teenage girls in a Sydney hotel have emerged, revealing more about what might have happened just hours before Van der Poel was due to ride the men’s road race in Australia.
A series of videos, apparently shot by the teenage girls involved, have been published online and sent to some media. Cyclingnews has seen one of the videos online, which appears to show a man chasing two people in the Novotel Brighton Resort hotel near Sydney, where the altercation took place.
Cyclingnews, like other media, has decided not to publish the video because it could identify the two young girls. The authenticity of the videos has not been verified.
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Details of court documents have also been reported, partly contradicting what Van der Poel initially described as a “small dispute”.
The Dutchman was charged with common assault on Monday and pleaded guilty. He was fined $1,500 but intends to appeal. He was allowed to leave Australia on Monday but could be banned from returning to the country for up to three years.
Alpecin-Deceuninck team manager Christophe Roodhooft denied that the altercation had been physical but the Daily Mail and other media in Australia reported that a police statement of facts said the 14-year-old 'ran into a corner and sat down covering her face' while Van der Poel 'grabbed her by both of her arms, squeezing them and pushing her against a wall while yelling at her'.
The girl 'suffered a minor carpet burn graze to her right elbow and redness to her left forearm'.
The other teenager 'was in the same room' while Van der Poel chased the other girl. She 'attempted to leave the room' and van der Poel allegedly pushed her against a wall 'using two open hands' which caused her to fall 'to the ground'.
According to the Daily Mail, police arrived about five minutes later and Van der Poel was arrested and taken to Kogarah police station, where he refused to speak with legal services but agreed to a recorded interview.
He allegedly admitted entering the room and grabbing one of the young females by the arm, and stated he was 'quite frustrated the girls had continued to make noise and knock on his room, (when) his girlfriend had previously asked them to stop'.
According to AD.nl, a second video reveals details of an argument between Van der Poel and the girls’ parents, where he denies touching the girls. AD.nl claimed they have had contact with the oldest of the three teenage girls and viewed the videos.
According to AD the following exchange was filmed:
Van der Poel: “I didn’t touch anybody.”
The mother: “Shut up, it’s on camera.”
MvdP: “Show me, no problem.”
The mother: “You are not allowed in my room.”
MvdP: “You are not allowed to knock my door for three fucking hours.”
The mother: “You threatened us.”
MvdP: “Then call the police and tell them about this.”
The mother: “I already did. They are on their way.”
Mvdp: “Fine, are you sure?”
Van der Poel opted not to speak as he left court in Sydney on Monday morning and then flew back to Europe. He responded to reports of the videos when he landed at Brussels airport on Tuesday afternoon.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I have never hurt anyone," van der Poel told Het Laatste Nieuws in a video interview.
"There are a lot of stories about pushing, but that is absolutely not true. That's not what happened. There are two versions of a story and when you are in Australia it is very difficult to deal with.”
On Monday evening, his Alpecin-Deceuninck team released a short statement and is also awaiting further information.
“We have taken note of the events that took place in Wollongong in the past 48 hours. Needless to mention everyone loses here, and we can only regret that,” the statement said.
“Initially, our focus was on providing legal assistance on site and on helping Mathieu van der Poel to return home quickly. Now that has happened, we want to get a clear picture of the course of events, through inspection of the complete file (we don’t have the court documents yet) and a conversation with Mathieu van der Poel and those involved at Team NL. Based on this, we will determine which further steps to take.
“We would like to emphasise that respect for others, inside and outside the peloton, is and always has been a core value of Alpecin-Deceuninck. That is why we want to follow up on this in an appropriate way. Only then will team Alpecin-Deceuninck and Mathieu van der Poel communicate about this again.”
The Netherlands team is also investigating what happened after it emerged that van der Poel was sleeping on a different floor of the hotel to that of his teammates and with his partner Roxanne Bertels, when the altercation happened. National coach Koos Moerenhout has explained that Van der Poel was given another room because he came down with a cold on arrival in Australia, but Van der Poel stayed in the room with his partner until Sunday’s road race.
Van der Poel said he has still to decide if he will race again during the 2022 road season.
