Questioned by the Belgian channel VTM at Brussels-Zaventem airport, the 27-year-old Dutchman denied having pushed against a wall one of the two teenagers whose nocturnal noise, in the corridor of his hotel room, the prevented from sleeping.
The altercation, which occurred on Saturday evening on the eve of the World Cycling Championships, forced him to abandon the race shortly after the start.
It earned him a conviction for "assault" in an Australian court after a night at the police station.
"I grabbed one of the girls by the arm but definitely not with the intention of hurting her. Anyone who knows me knows I've never hurt anyone," van der Poel said Tuesday.
"There are two sides to the story," he said, as he is accused of pushing the two 13- and 14-year-old girls, one falling to the ground and the other being thrown against a wall which caused a scratch on his elbow.
"Of course I regret it, I made a mistake," continued the grandson of Raymond Poulidor.
"I should have called reception or told someone, but I thought I could fix the problem myself. It went wrong."
Mathieu van der Poel chose to plead guilty on Monday before the Sutherland court, near Sydney, and was immediately sentenced to two fines, 1,000 dollars and 500 Australian dollars (1,010 euros in total).
The Dutchman, twice Dutch road champion (2018, 2020) and stage winner on the 2021 Tour, is one of the great figures of the current peloton.
In his absence at the Worlds disputed in Wollongong (south-eastern Australia), it is the main favorite of the event, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who became world champion on Sunday.
© 2022 AFP