Man who threw a bottle at Paris-Roubaix champion Mathieu van der Poel turns himself in: "This is attempted manslaughter"

Mathieu Van der Poel has won the Paris-Roubaix for the third time in a row. The Dutchman, seven time cyclo-cross World Champion had a fierce fight with World Champion Tadej Pogačar, who took part for the first time in the Monument race, considered one of the hardest races in the sport. Van der Poel finished the 259.2km race - of which 55.3 is on cobblestone - in 5 hours, 31 seconds, 27 milliseconds. Danish cyclist Mads Pedersen took the third place.

With just 33 km remaining, Van der Poel was hit by a bottle thrown by a spectator. The moment was captured by TV cameras and didn't go unnoticed by TV viewers, who couldn't believe that something so irresponsible and dangerous - for Mathieu and for everyone watching - happened. Van der Poel said that it hurt him, because the bottle was full, and it could have broken his nose.

"I hope they find the perpetrator. I think he should be prosecuted, since it was an attempted manslaughter. He hit me right in the face", the cyclist said.

According to Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad (via RTVE), the perpetrator has turned himself in. The newspaper shows a different angle, in which we can see more clearly how the bottle hits his cheek and then bounces off. A slightly different angle could have had much more serious consequences. A prosecutor of West Flanders said that the man reported himself to the police, his identity has not been revealed, but he says to be very sorry for his act and "very ashamed of what he did on impulse on Sunday." A Flemish supporter group supposedly related to the man has distanced from himself and his actions.