Actually, Mathieu van der Poel wanted to win the road race title for the first time at the World Cycling Championships in Australia. But after an arrest on the eve of the race because of an argument in the hotel, the venture is over. He’s in for more trouble.

Huge trouble for cycling star Mathieu van der Poel at the World Cycling Championships in Australia: The Dutchman, who had traveled as one of the favorites, was briefly arrested by the police on the eve of the road race for a physical attack in the hotel. There had been an altercation between two children who had knocked on his door several times. A girl’s arm was reportedly injured.

The 27-year-old was charged with two counts of assault and released on bail early Sunday morning. Van der Poel has to appear in court on Tuesday. The former cross world champion started in the road race, but gave up again after an hour.

“It’s true, yes. There was a little argument,” van der Poel told Belgian TV station Sporza before the start. “It was about noisy neighbors and they are pretty strict here.” He went to bed early. However, many children in the corridor of his room would have found it necessary to knock on the door. “After a few times I was done with it. I didn’t ask kindly to stop. Then the police were called. I wasn’t back in my room until 4 a.m. It’s definitely not optimal. It’s a disaster, but I can’t do anything anymore change. I’m trying to make the best of it. With little sleep I’ll race, hopefully with adrenaline.”

New South Wales Police later confirmed that a 27-year-old man was arrested and charged after he was allegedly involved in an argument with two teenage girls at a Sydney hotel. Accordingly, he pushed the two girls, with one falling and the other hitting a wall and suffering a small abrasion on the elbow. Van der Poel was one of the favorites at the World Cup. The classics specialist has already won a number of difficult one-day races such as the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race and the Strade Bianche. In 2021, the grandson of cycling legend Raymond Poulidor won the second stage of the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for six days.

(This article was first published on Sunday, September 25, 2022.)