• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 152 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
You don't need to be an international sports star to understand angrily confronting fans never ends well for the star... especially when the 'fans' in question are young girls.

Lets not forget the real reason he's in this mess - the management of the Dutch cycling team should never have let this happen in the first place. We should be more angry with them then a bunch of kids.
 
Legally, yes, your correct. PR wise, clowny.

The court hasn't said anything. They aren't doing any pr.

From what I have read from non-court sources they held an early session as requested (due to flight schedule) where mvdp pleaded guilty. His lawyers will appeal the sentence (but presumably not the judgement) at a later date to try remove any criminal record - (perhaps arguing he did not actually push anyone but I'm making stuff up now).

All we have from the court is the listing. You have to be a party to the suit to get more info it seems. https://onlineregistry.lawlink.nsw....ts#/detail/20220028543824683648MentionPolice/

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: shalgo and jmdirt
What's clowny about not releasing a man accused of having pushed two teenage girls? Because that's the only legal issue in the case.
It's interesting to me that almost the whole discussion revolves about him pushing two girls without adding the context of them causing significant disturbance beforehand, to call it mildly.

So I wonder, would the discussion be different if those perpetrators were adults?

And where are the borders of protecting your self-integrity and property? I would consider the hotel room I am staying in an equivalent of my property for the duration of my stay.

Finally, when did the society finally gave up on self-policing and requires involvement of an official police force for just about everything? I am not talking about calling police on him, but about suggestions that he should have called the police on the girls.

A lot has gone wrong in this unfortunate event and I can't help but seeing MVDP the biggest, if not the only victim of it all.
 
Statistically speaking the alleged victims are less likely to lie than the grown-up accused.

Pushing two 14 year old girls also ain't a minor thing no matter what they did.

Pushing one might be an accident but pushing one to the floor and the other in a wall doesn't just happen accidentally. It's violence. No excuse whatsoever. No matter the race you're racing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bolder
If he pushed them (which we have the court's word for), a ~€1,000 fine doesn't seem excessive nor authoritarian. And he has been able to leave the country the day after.

Of course, he was mostly harmed by the investigation, but I have next to no anchor for what would be excessive or not. Interrogating him asap is what I'd expect, but for how long he was actually detained and what the right amount would be, I have no good idea about.
 
Some proper bizarre reactions in here. You would think he was thrown into a dark cell with no food and water for 48 hours. An altercation happened between an adult and two 13 year old girls - the police was called, they took him in for questioning and he was released a couple of hours later, is a free man and simply has to appear in court a few days later to settle the simple question, if he physically touched them or not.
I'm more often than not critical of state authorities or police but I fail to see the big drama here. Of course the timing of this sucked big time for him but if you'd hear anywhere else that police was called after a confrontation between a 27 year old and two 13 year olds you'd 100% expect them to question both parties right away. His personal circumstances aren't relevant whatsoever in that situation, it would be quite a joke otherwise.

The whole conclusions regarding Australias laws or "society and kids these days" are proper hilarious. Playing knock and run in a hotel might be annoying but it's one of the mildest forms of teenagers pushing boundaries I've ever heard. The way people talk about their behaviour ("they need to be sued" hahaha) you'd think they pushed a granny in front of a bus.

MVDP should've called the hotel or team staff right away and nothing happens. Oh, and they shouldn't have been in that hotel in the first place. End of story.
Hopefully he still does Lombardia.
 
Statistically speaking the alleged victims are less likely to lie than the grown-up accused.

Pushing two 14 year old girls also ain't a minor thing no matter what they did.

Pushing one might be an accident but pushing one to the floor and the other in a wall doesn't just happen accidentally. It's violence. No excuse whatsoever. No matter the race you're racing.
???

I think it's more likely for a 14 year old who got into trouble for disturbing somebody to lie to get out of trouble than the other way around tbh.
 
I know you're joking, but still.
The general public don't know what they look like, and they're described as being around 14; hopefully the situation will have calmed down in four years time.

I'm not entirely joking if I were them, I wouldn't go to The Netherlands; mvp is a national treasure in his homeland.
There's no need to panic though, they'd be welcome in Belgium and France.
 
Disagree. He at least verbally assaulted them, that much is clear. What better way to "get even" than to really stick it to the guy?

I don't think that's what happened, but it cannot be ruled out at this point.
Statistically it's more likely they aren't. It's just not that common to wrongfully accuse someone of physical assult. It's common in TV shows, movies etc, but not in reality.
 
i think it's more of a case vs Australian vs foreigner.
I do find it funny when Euros hear about something in australia and go on as if it's some tinpot penal colony, as opposed to not really that different from most of Europe in a lot of ways (at least in the densely populated parts of the East coast).

If you want to be negative about police and the legal system I'm all in favour, just be aware that someone in MVDP's position is the absolute last person who'll be unfairly targeted here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Valanga and noob
Quite simple case afterall. Law is the law, elite athlete sure ain't the law. Kinda shows how Van der Poel is young man, who maybe have lived quite narrow priviledged life, where simple things get sorted straight and quick.

No matter how noisy kids, or adults, athletes don't force the law. In the light of what is told so far, it's completely understandable, that he got fined for attacking civil people.

It looks like his lawyer has him around his finger, milking money from Mathieu. His lawyer should have said 'shame on you, be glad you're getting home already, don't be hothead again' things like that, instead milking him 'we must challenge', (like wtf, kid champion being stupid and you're going to challenge this :D)

And. His national team. Team travel management? Zero points.. They should talk with Mathieu a) anger management b) thinking winning formula for the process called 'team travel management' c) this was not the end of the world (happily no worse bruises accidents), think-talk-learn-get better-redo..
 
  • Wow
Reactions: noob

TRENDING THREADS