SUPERSTAR cyclist Mathieu van der Poel was nearly derailed by a fan throwing a hat at his bike during his Paris-Roubaix triumph.
The world road race champion, 29, destroyed the entire field on Sunday as he won the iconic cobbled classic for a second successive year after a 60-kilometre solo attack.
The stunning win adds to his triumph at the Tour of Flanders seven days earlier as he takes his tally of classics victories to six.
But it could have been a very different afternoon for Van der Poel had one horrifically behaved fan had their way.
Coverage of the cycling race shows a person throwing a white hat out into the road as he flies past with 42 kilometres remaining.
Fortunately, the missile did not impact Van der Poel as he drove on and clinched another breathtaking triumph by THREE MINUTES from team-mate Jasper Philipsen.
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It comes after beer was thrown at him during the Tour of Flanders one week earlier.
And he revealed after Roubaix that he did see the object hurled towards him.
He said: “I saw something being thrown at me, but I didn’t know what it was.
“Obviously not everyone likes it when I’m at the top – but I don’t care.”
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Eurosport pundit Adam Blythe raged at the fan after it had been spotted on the TV.
The ex-rider said: “Such a crash could have ended his season – these people don’t understand that.”
Van der Poel’s latest run-in with a cycling fan comes after he spat at a group of cyclo-cross spectators back in December.
Fans later leapt to the Dutchman’s defence by alleging Van der Poel had urine and beer thrown over him.
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Dylan Terry
