Mathieu van der Poel was “right to be angry, but not to do what he did,” the father of the two teenage girls involved in the altercation in a Sydney hotel the night before the men's Road World Championships has told the Daily Mail in Australia.
Van der Poel pleaded guilty to two common assault charges and a fine of 1,500 Australian dollars on Monday and was allowed to leave Australia. He has since recognised he made a mistake by trying to personally resolve the incident in his team hotel.
He also claimed that he did hold one of the teenage girls by the arm, but “with no intention of hurting anyone.”
The father of the girls, Emad, has recognised that the game of knocking on Van der Poel’s hotel room door went too far, telling the Daily Mail the girls' actions were "a bit naughty." However, he also condemned van der Poel for his reaction.
Emad claimed in the interview that Van der Poel was “yelling at my youngest, the 12-year-old, saying ‘were you doing this as well’ and she was freaking out. They are very shaken."
'He's got every right to get angry, but not to do what he did,” Emad added. ‘They’re tiny little girls, and he’s massive.’
Van der Poel was taken into police custody and remained in the police station until 4:00 on Sunday morning. He rode a lap of the World Championships the next day before abandoning the race.
In the same interview, Emad said his wife, also present in the hotel the night of the incident along with their daughters, was angry with Van der Poel for what he called “fleeing the country as well as what he did.”
On his return to Europe on Tuesday, Van der Poel confirmed that the videos that have appeared online that showed the incident “show what I said,” and admits he handled the situation badly.
“I should have informed someone, the front desk or something, anyway. It was just getting late and I wanted to sleep,” he said. “I thought I'd fix it myself, which ended up being completely wrong. Unfortunately, I can't change it anymore.”
