Mathieu van der Poel won his third consecutive Paris-Roubaix solo, equalling the record of consecutive victories held by Octave Lapize and Francesco Moser. But the triumph was marred by a serious incident 33 km from the finish.

The Dutch champion was hit in the face by a full water bottle, with the Visma-Lease A Bike logo, thrown by a spectator in the Templeuve cobblestone sector. An act that unleashed the rage of the rider, despite the extraordinary victory obtained with a 1:18 advantage over the world champion Tadej Pogačar.

"We cannot let this episode pass," said van der Poel after the finish.

"It was a full water bottle and it hurt a lot. If it had hit me on the nose, it would have broken it. I hope the police can identify the person responsible because there needs to be a trial for this. It is attempted murder."

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider added: "If the UCI doesn't take action, we as a team will do it. It doesn't ruin the joy of victory, but it's not normal. It was a full bottle, about half a kilo, and I was going 50 km/h. It was like being hit by a stone in the face."

Team manager Philip Roodhooft tried to tone things down, stressing that such people do not deserve attention and that one should not forget the appreciation of the tens of thousands of fans who rightly support van der Poel and the other riders.

Not even 24 hours have passed since the incident, and the perpetrator of the dangerous act has reportedly presented himself to the police in Belgium. A news item confirmed by local media, which reports the words of a Belgian police spokesperson: "The man who threw the water bottle at Van der Poel has reportedly expressed his regret for what happened."

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