Yeah, I remember him flipping out on a couple of dumb teenagers in Australia but that is certainly not enough to get him Froome level hate.
(Not saying Froome deserved it. That was just a combination of him winning, not being warm and fuzzy, and Sky and their jiffy bags and alleged doping.)
I think fans are just attracted to personalities. Sagan was loved by everybody for general antics, his wheelies, and certainly his wins. He could pinch a podium girl’s ass and not suffer much at all.
That was alleged with Wiggins not Froome.
I heard on Cade Media today that the assailant has apologised, and spoken out - I’m afraid none of our theories were held up!
Can you tell us rather than making us watch a video? 
Yes, that particular instance but fans believed that Sky was gaming the system if not outright cheating. (Not my opinion - I think if one team was cheating or gaming the system with TUEs, they all were.)
There’s a chapter in that video but it really explains nothing.
It certainly doesn’t explain why MVDP attracts more than his fair share of crap.
The short version is: dude was drunk, found a bidon on the ground, made a split second decision and now deeply regrets it. Oh, also he’s Belgian.
I think attempted manslaughter might be the appropriate charge. Depending on how it’s defined in France.
From Wikipedia (so it must be true ):
Involuntary manslaughter occurs when the agent has no intention (mens rea) of committing murder but caused the death of another through recklessness or criminal negligence.
So I think it’s reasonable that the person didn’t intend to murder, but their actions certainly could have result in a fatal injury.
If it’s a liter bottle, that’s 1kg of weight. I think the water bottle makes people interpret it as “not as bad”. But what if it were an equally weighted rock he threw at his head? A 1kg rock would trigger people’s “woh, that’s serious!” intuition I think.
And physics doesn’t care if it’s a rock or a water bottle.
NO.
The dude has no idea why he did it and is really remorseful, accepts any punishment, etc.
I don’t know their source otherwise I’d have linked that. Kind of hoping someone else has it?
Bottle only had a little liquid in it apparently.
He had been drinking, doesn’t have any favourite rider - so apparently nothing against mvdp.
I understand that the guy has to give a diplomatic excuse after he was pressured to come forward. I don’t buy it. (Let’s be real. He only came forward because all the people he came with on the bus gave him a hard time and someone was going to rat him out.)
None of it explains how only MVDP seems to encounter these issues.
I think it comes down to people don’t like him (not fair IMO) but it is what it is. When he turned pro he came off as a really young multi-millionaire prima donna. He’s spat on people and he chased those teenage girls. (I’m sure they were assholes and were fucking up his worlds.) He often goes around with a frowny face unlike a Pogi or a Sagan that is always smiling.
And that it. People just don’t have a favorable opinion of him and he’s Dutch which seems to be the arch rival of Belgium thus he’s got the biggest cycling crazy country rooting against him on top of it all.
He should work on some reputation building and try to smile or pop some wheelies. It would be worth millions to him!
An inherited resting bitch face? That can have a real impact, socially.
There are such a strange variety of reactions to this incident (both in this thread and elsewhere).
Is this a deeply offensive action deserving of severe punishment? Yes
Is part of the beauty of professional cycling that the fans can be so close to the spectators? Also yes
Will drunk (generally) young (also generally) men make really dumb decisions in life, sometimes at sporting events? Yes
Are these events significantly worse and more frequent now than they were 10, 20, or 100 years ago? Highly debatable
I don’t think this person deserves to be charged with attempted murder, but frankly I’m naive to the French legal system so I cannot really suggest an appropriate charge. I do think there should be consistency in the severity of these punishments, but that making an example of a single culprit is a fools errand and certainly not justice. Establish a reasonable punishment and apply it - don’t severely overcorrect for the (relative) lack of punishment prior offenders have received
It’s not that Pogi should win everything, but how can you not be happy for him when he’s always so happy for everyone? He entered the velodrome smiling, he hugs MVP, what’s not to enjoy? Nothing against MVP, but Pogi has .. what is it now, “the riz”? I was also hoping for a Pederson win.
I read the culmination of the Allez Omi Opi lady and she ended up with a fine of like 1800 euros. Considering that she caused tens of thousands of euros worth of damage and possibly broke some bones, she got off light. But, her case was an accident.
This guy’s bottle flick was intentional but he didn’t cause any damage. Attempted manslaughter or whatever clearly won’t stand. So what is the crime but throwing something at someone and they don’t get hurt? I’m thinking 300 euros.
Maybe the French have a special “interfering with a bike race” law?
Lord knows I am not defending the guy, but he also didn’t toss it MVDP with a huge amount of force. And I think “toss” is the right verb vs. “throw”. IMO, there is a big difference and therefore a big difference in charges / punishment.
Attempted Manslaughter is just over-the-top. Should MDVP have been charged with attempted manslaughter when he acossted those teens in Australia? His actions could have caused one of them to die if they had hit their head on something when they fell down.
This seems more akin to throwing large rocks off an overpass.
I think VdP was cleared of all charges in that assault allegation, eh?
Yep, completely cleared!
Obviously nobody is going to ever say MVDP was in the right in that situation, BUT why in the hell would you knock on a door once and run away and then do it a second time? Yes, they were teenage girls, but the problem was not MVDP the night before worlds, it’s their parents that clearly let their kids do whatever they wanted, and they were dumb enough to film their own stupidity admitting they knocked on his door once previously.
Maybe I’m on the “this deserves significant penalty and jail time” as I’ve had yahoos in a truck throw a glass bottle at me while cycling. Luckily they missed.
I don’t care that he was drunk. What he did is criminal assault at a minimum. In my book, if he truly wants to atone for what he did, he should walk into a court in France and plead no contest to the charges and take whatever punishment the court thinks he deserves. Going on a podcast just feels like he’s trying to make himself seem more remorseful/ less culpable.
It doesn’t seem to be even close. He flicked it from 2 feet away not threw it off a bridge 30 feet up.
Flicking a plastic water bottom 2 feet also isn’t even close to some yahoo tossing a glass bottle at you from a moving car.
We also don’t know how full it was. People keep throwing about 1kg but that assumes that it was full.
Legally, if MVDP had crashed and lost the race, he had an enormous claim. I don’t know French law but it should be covered under whatever assault laws they have. In the US, this would probably be the lowest level, 3rd or 4th degree assault depending on the jurisdiction.
I’m sorry, but that is an absurd comparison. There is almost zero equivalence.
Did he push down some teenage girls who were banging on his door? Yes or no.