The bottle throwing at Van der Poel could change the pursuit of violent and dangerous fans forever

The bidon incident suffered by Mathieu van der Poel during the Paris-Roubaix 2025 could be a turning point in the pursuit of these actions as stated in the statement issued by Alpecin-Deceunink, the statements of Adrie Van der Poel, or the strong support for any actions they may carry out as expressed by the UCI.

Alpecin-Deceuninck is tired of the attacks on Van der Poel and will take legal action

This time, Alpecin-Deceuninck will not hold back and will file a formal complaint against the spectator who, last Sunday, threw a bidon at Mathieu van der Poel when he was riding solo towards his third victory in the Paris-Roubaix.

According to the team, these incidents are usually related to excessive alcohol consumption. However, what is really concerning is the escalation in the incidents that Mathieu van der Poel has been experiencing, whether in the cyclocross season where they have even thrown urine and beer at him as explained by Adrie van der Poel, father and manager of Mathieu.

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Furthermore, Alpecin-Deceuninck has stated that they will closely monitor the progress of the process but will not give any more publicity to the matter. They also call for dialogue among the different entities in cycling - cyclists, teams, federations, organizers, and authorities - in order to establish a series of measures to prevent these types of individuals from being present at cycling events.

For its part, the UCI has shown its full support, indicating that they will explore measures with the relevant authorities as well as legal avenues to ensure that the person who threw the bidon at Mathieu van der Poel is severely punished. Similar condemnatory attitudes were expressed by the Association of Professional Cyclists, the association of cycling race organizers, and the association of teams.

Unsportsmanlike behavior from spectators towards cyclists is not new in cycling. In the memory of the most veteran and those who love the history of cycling, surely there is that Tour de France of 1975 when the legendary Eddy Merckx received a punch from a French spectator, which, according to the Belgian cyclist himself, was the trigger for him to later concede the yellow jersey to Bernard Thevenet, almost at the gates of Paris, in the last alpine stage with a finish in Pra Loup.

However, in the era of social media where many seek their moment of fame, these actions have become more common, whether intentionally as what happened on Sunday in Paris-Roubaix, or by simple negligence as in the 2021 Tour when a spectator holding a sign to the cameras caused a massive pile-up.