After seeing the "really bad" course, Ronhaar has lost interest in the European Championship... and so has the rest

The ever-candid Pim Ronhaar was the first to speak up. The Dutch rider from Baloise Trek Lions had just finished his recon and didn’t even wait for us to bring it up. "I saw the course on video, and I think it’s a shame we have to travel so far for a course like that. I’m really disappointed, so today I’ll give everything, and we’ll see how I feel at the start of the European Championship."

With this, Ronhaar had already made his sentiment clear. "The European Championship isn’t a goal for me. I’m glad I saw the video and am here on the Koppenberg, where I can race a proper course," he added with a sharp tone. "It’s not like I’m looking forward to it or that I’ve prepared for it. I see Sunday’s race as just another race."

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Following the Koppenbergcross, more reactions came in. At Baloise Trek Lions, it turned out that Ronhaar’s view was shared by his teammates. "They could have done a bit more with it," Lucinda Brand voiced her honest opinion. "We saw the usual course on video, and then a new video came out this week, and I thought, why are you taking even more turns out? Now there’s really nothing left. I think that’s a real shame."

"A lottery is a strong word. It was more like that during the Tour of Flanders on this Koppenberg in spring," laughed Brand, referring to the mud fest where road racers had to get off their bikes on the slick cobblestones. Lars van der Haar, however, didn’t hesitate to call it a lottery. "You can’t even go two-wide in the last turns. So the race will be decided before the final pit stop, with maybe ten or fifteen men together in the men’s race. It could easily be won by someone you wouldn’t expect."

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"If you’re fast and explosive on Sunday, you’ll be in the right spot at the right time. But the pack will stay together for a long time, and it’ll be hard to make a difference on a course like that," Brand added. Van der Haar, meanwhile, called it a "gravel criterium". "You can’t compare the Koppenberg with what we’ll see on Sunday at all. It’ll be like a speed race. It’s night and day, so it’ll feel different and play out differently. My form is good, so I can compete, but the racing style will be completely different."

Was there anyone in the mixed zone who was actually looking forward to a round trip to Spain? Eli Iserbyt was up for it, at least. "When you’re racing in Spain, you know what kind of surface to expect. It’s more gravelly and a bit drier. For me, it’s better if there are more turns, but I think they just want an exciting race. We might race the whole course with seven or eight riders together, so I expect it to be an exciting race and maybe even have a surprising winner. That would be nice. It doesn’t always have to be just around the corner in some field."