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Mathieu van der Poel on bottle-thrower: ‘There has to be a trial’

The winner of Paris-Roubaix said the incident by a spectator was attempted manslaughter

April 14, 2025
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Why does this keep happening? Mathieu van der Poel took a stunning victory over world champion Tadej Pogacar at Paris-Roubaix, but he almost didn’t make it to the line. With 34 km to go, someone on the side of the road threw a yellow bottle at him. Initially, the commentators thought his bidon had popped out of the cage—a common occurrence for rides on the pavé—except Alpecin-Deceuninck doesn’t use bottles that colour.

“We can’t let this pass. It was a full bidon, and it hurt a lot. If I take that bidon on my nose, it’s broken,” he said, saying that this was attempted on the part of the ‘fan.’

According to Het Nieuwsblad, that man has surrendered himself to Belgian police. Van der Poel had earlier said that his team would take action regarding the disgusting behaviour of the spectator.

“Hopefully, the police can identify the man because there has to be a trial for this. This is attempted manslaughter. If the UCI [Union Cycliste Internationale] doesn’t take action, then we will do it with the team,” he said.

This isn’t the first time that van der Poel has had to put up with this reckless behaviour.

In the final kilometres of his solo E3 Saxo Classic victory, a spectator, presumed to be Belgian, spat on Dutch star van der Poel. He didn’t react during the race but commented afterward: “There are people who shouldn’t watch. But, I can’t change that myself.” He added, “That it keeps happening? Unfortunately, yes.”

Then there was the 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst. During the event, spectators threw beer (or possibly urine) at him, prompting MvdP to spit back in frustration.

In the 2024 Paris-Roubaix, van der Poel, en route to a solo victory, had to dodge a spectator throwing a cap toward his back wheel about 42 km from the finish. Fortunately, he avoided any harm.

With Saturday’s result, the Dutchman took his third win at the Hell of the North, tying the record of Octave Lapize and Francesco Moser.