Australia Causes International Incident By Arresting Dutch Mathieu van der Poel At Cycling World Championships

And? Should reinforce that it’s inappropriate to push little girls. Should reinforce that social manners and rules don’t care if you’re a ped’ed out star.

The biggest sports star in Dutchland 🤣😂

They were teenagers 13 and 14. They were harrassing people. You don't think van der Poel told them to stop first and they keep harrassing him? Someone didn't teach their children not to harass people.

lequipe.fr

Nuit au poste puis abandon pour Mathieu van der Poel après 30 km de course

Le Néerlandais a été arrêté samedi soir après une altercation avec des adolescents à son hôtel. Il a tout de même pris le départ du Mondial ce dimanche matin mais a dû abandonner après 30 kilomètres.

Link:www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actu...

He made a mistake by pushing those teenagers aged 13 and 14 but bringing him back to the court on Tuesday, September 27 is overkill by Australia and shouldn’t be necessary. Ridiculous. His race was already ruined and they’re (Australian authorities ) adding more stress now which is absolutely not needed. He apologized and that should be the end of the story. Please don’t tell me he’s going to get a criminal record in Australia for pushing two teenage girls who were harassing him by knocking on his door repeatedly the night before a world championship race? If that were to happen he would be barred from coming back to Australia potentially. This is just outrageous and unnecessary. Australian law courts should be reasonable and let this guy go back to the Netherlands to get on with his career. That should be the end of the story.

I had no idea what ding dong ditch meant so I looked it up and this is what I got: “ding-dong ditch (uncountable) (US, Canada) A children's prank in which a doorbell of a home is rung, and then the pranksters run away before the occupants of the home open the door.”

You can imagine Van der Poel’s frustration faced with that game because it could’ve gone on for hours. The Dutch cyclist should’ve gone down to reception and explained what was going on and in that case he should’ve been given another room in a quieter part of the hotel if that were possible. I don’t think the Netherlands and Australia have the same culture with regard to physically touching or pushing people with Australia having a similar mindset to the USA possibly where that type of behavior is strictly out of bounds but possibly tolerated in the Netherlands? Bringing the frustrated world class Dutch cyclist back to court on Tuesday is overkill and he should’ve gotten off with a warning. What is Australia trying to prove? this reminds me of the Novak Djokovic debacle last year at the Australian open.

He’s a pro cyclist. These teenaged girls likely outweighed him. Too bad he didn’t also kick the snot out of the girls’ useless parents.

Australia is sending a clear message to the world… we don’t want you to visit!

Sorry, but I have to blame the Dutch on this. I know all you liberals will disagree, but this is all on the Dutch.

Australia caused it? Australia?

Van der Poel was taken to the police station by police who act outside the political influence and outside the World cycling influence. Based on the police station interview he was summonsed to appear in court, to answer two counts of common assualt.

Just because their is a world cycling event, doesn't suddenly change what the police arew supposed to do , if that were the case, other people arrested for assualt could also come up with an excuse.

Do you guys actually know how the law works?

So, allegedly two teenagers, 13 and 14, banged on his door. He has a phone in his bedroom, dial 9 and you get reception and ask them to sort out the disturbance. You don't resort to injuring them. FFS, I have used the room phone to report people making too much noise, I'm sure many others have.

You thread title and blaming Australia, the country, is bloody stupid

Perhaps you think it should go down like this?

"Why did you assault the girls, tell us your version."

"I'm a Dutch cyclist here for the UCI champs tomorrow"

"ok then, carry on, sorry please go back to bed"

Or

"You have to appear in court on Tuesday"

" I can't, my flight is on Monday"

Quote: "There maximum penalty for common assault is two years imprisonment. Other penalties could include a fine or a section 10 dismissal, and matters heard in the Local Court will often result in a Conditional Release Order or Community Corrections Order." (This was a quick Google search regarding common assault in Australia)

Very doubtful that the cyclist will have the book thrown at him and what I envisage is that he will receive a warning and a fine and that will be it, with no criminal record and that is the way it should be, in my opinion.

Yes, he was wrong to push those girls but one can understand his frustration. Hopefully this will be a lesson for him. Quite frankly I feel very sorry for him because he missed his chance in the world championship race and he let the better his emotion get on top of him.

The teenage brats repeatedly harassed van der Poel with the ding dong ditch and wouldn't stop when told to get lost. You think they just did it once? Where were the parents of these brats? Probably Australian culture to let annoying teens roam the hotel room hallways disturbing people. I think their parents told them to harrass van der Poel because they know he is a rich sports star and they could scam him out of settlement money.

Why is he wrong ???.

He didn't injure them.

He pushed them.

What the heck ...

Poor little darlings don't like the consequences of their deliberately persistently negative actions ....

Oh you poor things !!! Poor little brats !!!!!!

So where is the consequences for these girls ????

Elsewhere it says he did call the front desk and ask for help.

When noone does their job you have to handle it

Now

If they were beaten by him ...

Ya sure ... but pushing the little brats get you to jail ...

World fill of pansys!!!!!

The world is full of pansies !!

Sorry about my fat fingers today

Van der Poel crossed the line when he pushed those teenagers but when the police came to interview him at the hotel they should’ve been satisfied and let him go back to his room with a warning not to repeat his ill timed behavior. His world championship quest was ruined and he was one of the favorites. Not playing with the law here but there were mitigating circumstances which explained his irascible behavior. I mean, this was not just some tourist sleeping in an Australian hotel who could’ve easily recovered in the ensuing hours but this was a potential world champion who was disturbed in his quest to win the world title for himself and his country. In my opinion, it was overkill by the Australian authorities.

GOOD. I hope his bike gets sent to the smelter.

velonews.com

Alpecin-Deceuninck team boss: Mathieu van der Poel left mentally broken after UCI Road World Championships arrest

Daniel Benson

'There were children in the corridor playing and he went out to ask them to stop, but obviously not in the right way,' says trade team boss Christoph Roodhooft.

Link:www.velonews.com/news/road/christoph-r...

unnecessary arrest for a basically innocent man, who had an unfortunate meltdown.

I don't get why the teenagers weren't arrested and he was???

So he stepped in the hallway, asked them to stop, and they attacked him for that.

He pushed them away. He didn't attack them. He didn't hit them.

They were the ones attacking him, not the other way around.

What was he supposed to do at that point, fall down on the ground????