Spectator blows smoke in Mathieu van der Poel’s face

A very striking moment during the men's cyclocross in Hofstade: Mathieu van der Poel is on his way to another victory in the field, but the world champion was unpleasantly surprised a few laps from the finish by an action from a spectator. The man deliberately blew smoke into the Dutchman's face.

While Van der Poel was riding a new winning solo, a scoundrel by the side of the course decided to 'treat' the Dutchman to a cloud of smoke. At the moment the Dutchman passed, the man blew his vape smoke into the face of the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider.

Van der Poel was not distracted by it and kept riding steadily towards his third cyclocross win in three days and fourth victory of the cyclocross season. The gap to second place – his eternal rival Wout van Aert – was three-quarters of a minute at the finish.

🚵🇧🇪 | It was such a beautiful race after 17 years again in Hofstade, but then there was a blemish. A spectator blows cigarette smoke into the face of race leader Mathieu van der Poel. 🚬😡

📺 Stream the race on HBO Max! pic.twitter.com/80XE081Nij

— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) December 22, 2025

After the race, Van der Poel was asked about the incident. "Did I notice it during the race? Yes, just after the finish. I just don’t know if it was on purpose or not."

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Not the first incident
This is certainly not the first time Van der Poel has been targeted by supporters. Two years ago, during the Hulst World Cup, he was jeered by spectators. Van der Poel said at the time that those spectators were continuously shouting things at him. In the recent edition of Paris-Roubaix, a man even threw a full water bottle at the Dutchman during his winning solo towards the velodrome.