Nothing was going to stop Dutch cyclist from winning gold in Sunday鈥檚 UCI elite men鈥檚 road cycling world championships鈥攏ot even an urgent mid-race trip to the toilet.
Van der Poel, 28, attacked out of a breakaway group in the final 20 miles of the 168-mile race in Glasgow, Scotland, to on Sunday, August 6, and claim the coveted rainbow jersey鈥攖he prize given to winners of pro cycling鈥檚 biggest one-day race. After the race, media focused on the disaster that nearly derailed van der Poel鈥檚 winning ride. He had crashed with a few miles to go, and the pileup left him with a tattered cycling shoe. But van der Poel was able to remount his bicycle and preserve his lead all the way to the finish.
It turns out that van der Poel had overcome an even more dire situation earlier in the event. Van der Poel had to poop鈥攂ad. The urge hit him with 119 miles to go. At that point in the race, all of the cyclists were brought to a halt by protestors on the road鈥攖he delay lasted nearly an hour. With no port-o-potties near the group, van der Poel had to find another way to relieve himself.
鈥淚 had to knock on the door of a couple鈥檚 house along the course,鈥 van der Poel told Dutch TV on Wednesday. 鈥淚 really owe them and I would like to thank them so much. I couldn鈥檛 have carried on racing without their help. It was the biggest race of my life and it was so kind of these people to let me in their house and let me sit on their toilet.鈥
Pro cycling has a long history of bizarre mid-race bathroom breaks. Road races聽 are so long and grueling that cyclists often must stop to do their business. Oftentimes, the peloton will pull over to the side of the road for a quick mid-race pee stop. These breaks can be strategic
Other stops are more urgent. American great Greg LeMond famously suffered gastrointestinal distress during the 1986 Tour de France and had to defecate into a teammate鈥檚 cycling cap (LeMone went on to win the yellow jersey). And contemporary cycling fans likely remember the plight of another Dutch cyclist, Tom Dumoulin, during the 2017 Giro d鈥橧talia.
As the group of favorites approached the feared Passo Umbrail on the Italy-Switzerland border, cameras caught sight of Dumoulin abruptly slow down, jump off of his bicycle, and . It turns out the Dutch racer was also battling a stomach bug and needed to relieve himself immediately.
The bathroom break slowed Dumoulin, but he, too, was able to bounce back. He won the 2017 Giro d鈥橧talia.
The Dutch superstar was lucky to be able to shake off a crash late to win Sunday鈥檚 enthralling and brutal elite men鈥檚 road race in Glasgow, but his lucky stars lined up even more so earlier in the race.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable, I鈥檓 now the first Dutch world champion in 38 years,鈥 van der Poel said about his own harrowing mid-race stop. 鈥淚t was a crazy day. But I have to go back to the middle of the race for the most important part.鈥
Scottish media tracked down the fans who let van der Poel use the potty pages. ,聽a Scottish tabloid, ran a full-page front-page photo, with the headline that read, 鈥淭hank poo very much.鈥
Van der Poel wasn鈥檛 the only person to use the potty. Apparently, the entire Dutch team felt a call of nature during stop for the protests.
The man who allowed van der Poel to use his bathroom, David Findlay, recounted the bizarre scene to Het Nieuwsblad.聽He told the newspaper that the peloton stopped in front of his home for the protests, and shortly thereafter a Dutch coach approached him asking if a rider could use the toilet.
鈥淲e did feel that it was a bit of an emergency because the team manager came first and asked if we could let one rider use the facilities, who I now take to be Mathieu van der Poel,鈥 Findlay said. 鈥淗e was such a nice guy and extremely polite and he was so grateful. The next thing we knew there was another rider and then another and I think we had four of the guys from the Netherlands in.鈥
Findlay told Scottish newspaper聽Daily Record that he was simply showing the riders good hospitality.聽鈥淎ny of the neighbors would have done the same thing,鈥 he said.聽鈥淚t鈥檚 all a bit surreal to be honest, as we鈥檙e aware of what a massive race it was and the incident with the protesters made our home a real focal point in world news for an hour or so.鈥
The moral of the story seems to be: 鈥淵ou gotta go when you need to go.鈥 The potty stop undoubtedly helped van der Poel in the race. When he crossed the finish line several hours later, he became the first Dutch man to win the elite world championship road race since 1985.