A Dutch professional cyclist who pushed a young girl into a wall at a Sydney hotel in September has had his convictions and fined overturned, with a judge referring to the victims’ behaviour as “annoying and invasive”.
Mathieu van der Poel, 27, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of common assault after he chased two young girls into their hotel room at the Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach on September 24.
The court was told van der Poel reacted to the pair playing “knock and run” on his hotel door the night before a world championship road race in Wollongong – where he was a favourite to win.
Instead of heading back to the Netherlands with the coveted rainbow jersey, van der Poel was arrested, pulled out of the race and landed back on home soil with a conviction and a three-year ban from Australia.
More than 200 million cycling fans had tuned in to watch the major event unfold, with fans devastated when the favourite pulled out just 45 minutes into the 267km road race.
In Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday, Judge Ian Bourke SC said while van der Poel’s actions would have been “disturbing” for the young pair, it came as a “response to annoying and invasive conduct” which amounted to a “significant degree of provocation”.
The court was told van der Poel, who earns $3 million a year, was in his hotel room when the knock-and-run game began before his girlfriend asked the pair to stop.
According to court documents, the girls knocked on the cyclist’s door, room 930, multiple times at 10.40pm and ran back into their room, which “frustrated” van der Poel, as he had the race the following morning.
“He waited for the victims to knock on his door and chased them into their hotel room, following close behind them,” court documents state.
Van der Poel chased the girls, causing one of them to run into a corner and crouch down while covering her face.
The cyclist ran up to her and grabbed her by both arms, squeezing them and pushing her against a wall while yelling at her, causing her to suffer a minor carpet burn graze to her right elbow and redness to her left forearm.
Van der Poel noticed the second girl trying to leave the room and pushed her against a wall using both hands.
“The girl fell to the ground and the accused left the room and went to his hotel room,” court documents said.
At 10.55pm, police arrived and took van der Poel to Kogarah Police Station where he was formally charged, had his passport confiscated and was issued with a court attendance notice.
Van der Poel told police he was “quite frustrated” the girls continued to make noise and knock on the door despite his girlfriend asking them to stop, court documents state.
The cyclist said he was frustrated by the situation but admitted his actions were wrong at the time.
The Dutch star returned to his hotel room at 4am on Sunday and was a favourite to win the 267km race on Sunday when it kicked off at 10.15am.
But van der Poel pulled out of the road race after about 45 minutes in despite being one of the favourites, having only managed a few hours sleep the previous night.
Defence lawyer Michael Bowe told the court on Tuesday the incident had caused his client “exceptional embarrassment and humiliation”.
Mr Bowe said the victims, both in their early teens, “we’re doing (knock and run) deliberately to bait him and wind him up,” and said van der Poel “fell into the trap.”
He said should the convictions not be overturned his client would confront difficulties in travelling internationally in the course of his career.
Judge Bourke described the knock-and-running as “silly conduct by unsupervised children” and said van der Poel had suffered a “very significant extra curial punishment” through his withdrawal from the race and subsequent publicity.
Both convictions of common assault were quashed as well as the $1500 in fines.
Speaking to NCA NewsWire after his client’s successful appeal, Mr Bowe said he hadn’t spoken to van der Poel yet but anticipated he would be “very, very happy”.
“He didn’t need a conviction, he’s a dedicated sportsman and cyclist,” he said.
“It’s really important these matters were dismissed.”
In the days following the incident, the father of the two sisters involved shared a video online that his 12-year-old daughter took of her sister preparing to knock on van der Poel’s door.
In the footage, the girl screams and runs into her hotel room as the 27-year-old cyclist follows close behind.
He said his daughters were shaken by what happened and van der Poel didn’t need to “charge at them”.
“Their mother heard them scream next door,” he told NCA NewsWire.
As soon as the mother notified the hotel, staff immediately called police without talking to the cyclist.
The father said his partner and daughters had no idea who van der Poel was.
He said he felt for van der Poel after he had to forfeit the race but conceded “that’s life” and he should have handled the situation differently.
“Those charges aren’t light, but I hope the girls learned a lesson,” the dad said.
“There’s so many avenues he could have taken.”