Painful images during the last climb of the Oude Kwaremont and also in the last straight line of the Tour of Flanders. Leader Mathieu van der Poel received beer (or so it seemed) and spit in the head from some fans, as well as a lot of boos. The organization wants to see the guilty punished. “In this way, the party that the Tour should be is ruined.”
LOOK. What punishment can you get for throwing beer?
It’s something we’ve seen before. Spectators who cannot live with the rule of Mathieu van der Poel. At the end of December during Hulst’s cross, he was even pelted with urine, after which Van der Poel aimed a flurry at the ‘fan’ in question.
He did not do that on Sunday at the Oude Kwaremont, but with his third Tour victory, ‘MVDP’ certainly gave the unsportsmanlike team a tit for tat. “There were some downpours, yes,” the Dutchman responded briefly to Sporza. “I was actually so focused on my effort that it didn’t really bother me.” Also a very dubious scene in the closing meters, with a boy spitting on a passing Van der Poel.
Organizer Flanders Classics hopes for punishment. “If the beer throwers are identified, we will file civil proceedings,” says CEO Tomas Van den Spiegel. “We also did that in the Omloop. Beer was thrown at Marianne Vos on the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The beer throwers there were identified and we filed civil proceedings there.”
Annelore Cleuren, communications manager of Flanders Classics: “In this way, the party that the Tour should be is being ruined. We present ourselves as a civil party mainly as a signal. Because we believe something like this is not possible.”
Joost Duhamel, zone chief of the Flemish Ardennes police, is willing to cooperate. “We have not determined this ourselves, but it can be seen on images of the match. Based on this, an official report is drawn up and the suspects can be identified. That police officer will receive the highest qualification: assault and battery. We will see how far we get with this, but we think it is especially important as a signal that such behavior is really unacceptable.”
Police chief Duhamel: “The collective indignation is great”
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Tags: signal unacceptable scandalous beer spitting scenes Ronde coming Sport
