Cycling: Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel arrested for assaulting teens on eve of World Championships

Mathieu van der Poel is a world champion in several different cycling disciplines. Photo / Photosport

Star cyclist Mathieu van der Poel will face court in Sydney on Tuesday after he was arrested over an alleged late-night altercation with two teenage girls.

The Dutch star was left "mentally broken", his team said on Sunday, after being charged with two counts of common assault and was taken to a police station just hours before the men's road race at the world championships in Wollongong.

The 27-year-old is reported to have confronted a group of teenagers after they repeatedly knocked on his door in an apparent prank.

Van der Poel was arrested and charged with assaulting two teenagers in Sydney overnight on Saturday, getting back to his hotel at 4am on Sunday morning, just hours before the elite men's world championship road race.

He quit inside the first 35km of the 266.9km event, which was eventually won in impressive fashion by Belgian Remco Evenepoel.

Van der Poel, who has won a stage on the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, has been left "shattered" according to his Team Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Christoph Roodhooft.

"He didn't sleep all night and was mentally a bit broken as well," Roodhooft told reporters.

"He was expecting a lot of this day (race) and did all he could in the last two months after his bad Tour de France. He had found joy and happiness again in cycling and was hoping to have a nice race today."

Speaking to Belgian sports website Sporza, the two-time Tour of Flanders winner and four-time cyclocross world champion said he had confronted two children who were knocking on his hotel room door "continuously".

"I went to bed early and many children in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock on the door," he said. "After a few times I was done with it. I did not kindly ask to stop. Then the police were called."

Van der Poel added that after he was charged he did not return to his hotel room until 4am local time.

The incident allegedly stemmed from two teenagers playing a game of “knock and run” at his hotel room door. #Wollongong2022 @StanSportAU

— Sophie Smith (@SophieSmith86) September 25, 2022

New South Wales police said Van der Poel had been arrested at the Grand Parade Brighton-Le-Sands in Sydney on Saturday evening and granted conditional bail to appear at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.

"He was allegedly involved in a verbal altercation with two teenage girls – aged 13 and 14," a NSW police statement said. "It's further alleged the man then pushed both teenagers, with one falling to the ground and the other being pushed into a wall, causing a minor graze to her elbow.

"Hotel management were notified of the incident who then called police."

Sunday's elite men's race was won in emphatic fashion by Evenepoel, who finished two minutes and 21 seconds ahead of France's Christophe Laporte having gone clear with 25km remaining. Evenepoel becomes the first rider since Bernard Hinault in 1980 to win a grand tour, a monument and the rainbow jersey in the same season.

The 22-year-old became Belgium's first grand tour champion in 44 years when he won the Vuelta a Espana a few weeks ago. He won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege monument race earlier this year.