Gold for Evenepoel becomes a minor matter: huge scandal at the World Cycling Championships

Just two weeks after his Vuelta success, 22-year-old Evenepoel took victory in the road race on Sunday in Wollongong after 266,9 kilometers and 6.16.08:2:21 hours. Silver went to the Frenchman Christophe Laporte and the bronze to the Australian Michael Matthews, both of whom were XNUMX:XNUMX minutes behind.

What caused the big stir, however, was van der Poel, who had caused a scandal the evening before and was arrested for an assault in the hotel. Did van der Poel hurt a child? There had been an argument with 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 took part in the road race, but gave up after just over an hour. <a data-caption="Mathieu van der Poel (Bildmitte) war zwar am Start, gab aber nach einer Stunde auf. Zuvor hatte er für einen Skandal gesorgt. © APA/afp / WILLIAM WEST" data-fancybox="inline-127559" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2022/09/mathieu-van-der-poel-bildmitte-war-zwar-am-start-gab-aber-nach-einer-stunde-auf-zuvor-hatte-er-fuer-einen-skandal-gesorgt.jpg"> Mathieu van der Poel (centre) was at the start but gave up after an hour. He had previously caused a scandal. © APA/afp / WILLIAM WEST

“It’s true, yes. There was a little argument,” van der Poel told the Belgian TV station Spouse before the start. “It was about loud neighbors and they are pretty strict here.” He went to bed early. However, many children in the hallway 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 politely to stop. Then the police were called. I wasn't back in my room until 4am. This is definitely not optimal. It’s a catastrophe, but there’s nothing I can do to change it.” New Merckx? Evenepoel is celebrated in Belgium Evenepoel is already being celebrated in his homeland as the new Eddy Merckx. It was an impressive show from Evenepoel, who took over from Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, who last triumphed in 2020 and 2021. With 72 km to go, he and a larger group broke away from fellow favorites such as Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), Matthews and Alaphilippe. When the pace increased further two laps before the end, only the Kazakh Alexej Lutsenko could follow, but with 26 km to go he couldn't do anything against the Belgian.

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Gold for Evenepoel becomes a minor matter: huge scandal at the World Cycling Championships

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