During the press conference, Mathieu Van der Poel returned to the unfortunate episode that could have compromised his success, namely the water bottle that was deliberately thrown at him while he was tackling the second section of cobblestone sector number 8.

«The incident with the water bottle hurt me. This type of situation is not acceptable. It was a full bottle, which must have weighed almost half a kilo, and I was going 40 kilometers per hour. It's like getting a stone in the face. It hurt me a lot. I hope we will be able to identify the spectator and prosecute them criminally. This type of behavior cannot be tolerated in a race».

Shortly before, to the microphones of Sporza, the Dutch champion was even more decisive: «It was a deliberate action, one could speak of attempted murder».

Unfortunately, Van der Poel is no stranger to the uncomfortable role of a human target: even during his victory at E3 Harelbeke, to cite the latest instance, he was hit by spitting from the roadside.