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Teams & Riders The "MVP" Mathieu Van der Poel Road Discussion Thread

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Most Australians understood the lockdowns and the protocols and the medical authorities agreed that the death toll would have been higher without them..
Yeah, and so what? This is also a question of principles. How strict measures can a government impose to ensure the publics safety. Even if the death toll is much higher, I would much rather have been in the US during the pandemic than in China. And several western countries IMO moved too much towards authoritarian regimes during the pandemic. The worst ones from my point of view was France, Canada, NZ and Australia. But this is off-topic, so I will leave it with that.
 
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i think it's more of a case vs Australian vs foreigner.
Good grief, I've read some crazy stuff in here. His nationality has nothing to do with it. His colour has nothing to do with it. His being a cyclist has nothing to do with it. Covid has nothing to do with it.

The police have two female minors alleging a man assaulted them. In a society reacting against historical cover ups regarding violence against children and women, the police are going to file a charge, aren't they? It's not rocket science.

We have to wait for some more facts, but it sounds like this is going to drag on and we may never hear more of it if he has pleaded guilty to move things along.
 
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this is click bait journalism and they rehash the interview from the start. Omitting the part where later he clarified he did not push them. So this is just factually wrong. Reporting doesn't have high standards these days. There is literally no new info, they use the interview before the start as the "pleading guilty" part, which is not what happened. Otherwise the lawyer would have 0 grounds to appeal
 

Text below. Sounds like he will fight it later but wants to prioritise getting back to Europe. It still blows my mind this occurred and derailed a worlds challenge.

Cyclist Mathieu van der Poel has been convicted in Australia for the confrontation with two girls in a hotel in Sydney. The judge fined him $1,000 for pushing one girl and $500 for the other girl. Converted into a total of just over a thousand euros.

The judge counted it heavily on Van der Poel that he took the law into his own hands. According to the judge, he should not have done that, but should have called the hotel security.

Van der Poel spent the night from Saturday to Sunday in jail for pushing the girls aged 13 and 14. He did that because they were making noise and knocking repeatedly on his door. He became frustrated because he couldn't sleep just before his participation in the World Cup.

He pushed one girl against a wall and the other girl he pushed down causing her arm to hurt. The fact that Van der Poel as a professional cyclist had an important race ahead of him was not a mitigating circumstance for the court.

Appeal against decision
The lawsuit against the cyclist was supposed to take place on Tuesday, but because he is flying back home today, the court's agenda was adjusted. Van der Poel's lawyer had asked for this.

Van der Poel flies back home at 10 a.m. Dutch time. His lawyer says he will appeal against the ruling and hopes that the rider will be acquitted. Van der Poel did not want to comment after the lawsuit.
If he has done this in their room then I see zero excuse. That's way above a normal rage fit.

If the person is at your door and you push them away that can be explained by brain circuit, but walking into their room is a whole other power demonstration in the first place.
 
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Is there some sort of law in Australia about verbal assault? If so, me thinks he “plead guilty” to that, whereas the verdict was about pushing them, which he has not done according to himself, and which he will appeal.
 
No one has provided any claim he did so. Just forum randomness looking to create drama - like two girls knocking on doors at night for fun as far as I can tell
Yeah, this is just classic media creatively piecing together rehashed stuff with new info which isn't correct. It also doesn't add up to why the lawyer would appeal if he admitted. That's not what the interview says. Simply poor reporting
 

the only thing his lawyer says is : "Vdp's side of the story is very plausible. It's therefore disappointing he has been convicted and therefore I will appeal this decision."

Correct me if I'm wrong but that doesn't seem like anything like he pleaded guilty. The Australian press just literally used his quote about verbally doing something from sunday in an admission of guilt to physical assault. Which is not the case.
 

the only thing his lawyer says is : "Vdp's side of the story is very plausible. It's therefore disappointing he has been convicted and therefore I will appeal this decision."

Correct me if I'm wrong but that doesn't seem like anything like he pleaded guilty. The Australian press just literally used his quote about verbally doing something from sunday in an admission of guilt to physical assault. Which is not the case.

Yes, it's very confusing.
 
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Everything in this situations is embarrassing

-Dutch federation putting their riders in that hotel miles from the races
-Teenagers behaving like entitled little dweebs with no empathy and bothering other guests in the night
-Van der pol for reacting so explosively (although we don't know what exactly happens and how explosively we reacted) instead of just getting security or something.
-Australian court saying he admitted guilt when he didn't.

What a joke.
 

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