Cap-throwing incident 'could have ended' Van der Poel's season

Mathieu van der Poel’s season “could have been ended” by the fan who appeared to throw a cap towards the Dutchman’s back wheel during Paris-Roubaix, Adam Blythe said on Eurosport’s The Breakaway.

There have been numerous crashes in recent weeks in elite cycling, but this would have been an entirely avoidable one, and it was subject to discussion by the Eurosport panel afterwards.

Dan Lloyd began: “We saw at 42.2km to go that one of the fans threw a casquette – a sort of cloth cap – fairly deliberately that looks, I think I’m right in saying, into the back wheel of Mathieu van der Poel.

“[It’s] unlikely anything would have happened from that, but it goes on from last week in Flanders where a few people saw beer being thrown, there’s a lot of booing – I think booing’s probably fine – but you can’t throw stuff at the riders at any point.”

London 2012 gold medallist Dani Rowe added: “It’s just ridiculous, we’re talking about rider safety aren’t we? The riders being in control somewhat of their own safety, but the fans have got to take control as well. That’s just absolutely ridiculous.”

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Former Lotto-Soudal rider Blythe pointed out that it was an act that could not only have taken the victory away from Van der Poel on the day, but that it could have curtailed the Dutchman’s season.

“It’s disrespectful,” he said. “Everything around that, they [the perpetrators] don’t understand the preparation before it, they don’t understand all the sacrifice he’s made.

“That could have been a crash that could have ended his season, not just that race. That’s what they don’t understand with it.

“They don’t understand the whole expense of the team, his life, his family, everything around it that could just go down like that.”

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On that move, Lloyd said: “It seems like a really good step doesn’t it? We can identify them hopefully, because it’s such a small, small minority that could potentially spoil things for the rest.

“I don’t think they’re going to barrier the entire length of the 57kms of cobbles each year, but they might start to do something which makes the fans stand further back so that they can’t impede the riders in the way that we sometimes see.

“One of the great parts of this sport is that you can get so up close and personal but don’t touch them or throw anything at them.”