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Mathieu van Dribble? World champ spits at booing fans

The Dutchman shot a magic loogie at spectators when in the lead of the UCI World Cup

Mathieu van der Poel spitting on fans
December 30, 2023
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Mathieu van der Poel took another win on Saturday at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst, the Netherlands in a day full of drama–-including involving the champ himself. Tom Pidcock had a crash at the start of the race which saw him lose two minutes, then turn heads with a headbutt as he tried to get back to the front. Wout van Aert dropped his chain and lost twenty places. World Cup Eli Iserbyt quit; but nothing beat van der Poel’s spit.

When the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider rode past a section of fans that had been booing him all day, he decided to let them know that he was not impressed and shot some saliva at them.

Mathieu van der Poel needed a mid-race No. 2 to be No. 1 at the worlds

“What happened? Nothing. Just a bunch of booers. It was the whole race. It already started during the warm-up. I’m done with it. If you do, you better stay home. I’m done with all the booing,” He explained. “What did they shout? You better ask them yourself. I’m not going to repeat that here. These are certainly not things that belong in sports. There shouldn’t be any boos for anyone. After a while, it’s enough, even for me.”

2023-2024 World Cup natural hat trick for van der Poel in Hulst

You can watch the world champ’s spittle-shot below.

While van der Poel declined to throw accusations at the crowd, one spectator told Wielerflits that the fans threw more than insults at the Dutch race-winner. It is alleged that beer, and maybe other fluids, were thrown at van der Poel. While not proven, it would make sense that it would take more than a couple insults, no matter how crude, to shake the veteran racer. He’s spent over a decade racing amongst the lively crowds at cyclocross races.

Echoes of Nys not playing nice

Van der Poel isn’t the first cross star to decide fans had crossed a line. In 2012, Sven Nys, nearing-retirement at the time, had enough of fans repeatedly dousing him with beer as he rounded the course in Loenhout. When a series of mechanical difficulties ruled out any result to write home about, the legendary Belgian made headlines anyway by ducking under the tape to confront the offending fans.