Meanwhile in the peloton | Ronhaar on crutches after crash at World Championship, Van Baarle shows shoulder damage two weeks after crash

The cycling world is abuzz with activity every day, and the flow of news rarely stops. While the big headlines take center stage, countless smaller updates, rumors, and tidbits also circulate. That’s why IDLProCycling.com created "Meanwhile in the peloton," so that you don't miss out on the smaller stories as well. We also include interesting social media posts here, though some should be taken with a grain of salt.

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Ronhaar on crutches after hard crash at World Championship in Liévin

February 4 - Things were not going well for Pim Ronhaar at the World Championships in Liévin. A physically and mentally broken Ronhaar spoke to the press after the race. The 23-year-old rider was left with a sore knee from a crash in France. "I fell a few times Sunday; in one of them, I hit my knee hard," he shared on Instagram. "Luckily, there were no fractures; today, we will do an ultrasound scan. Hopefully, nothing comes of the scan." Photos show the unfortunate cyclo-cross rider on crutches.  

Van Baarle shows collarbone damage two weeks after crash

February 4 -Dylan van Baarle started the season terrible. The Dutch rider from Visma | Lease a Bike crashed hard in the first stage of the Tour Down Under, breaking his collarbone and being immediately eliminated. Now, almost two weeks after the unfortunate crash, his girlfriend and teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has shared a snapshot of his current shoulder. "Almost gone!" she states.

Sutherland strongly criticizes Philipsen 

February 3 - Last week, Albert Philipsen rode an extra 100-kilometer lap after the Surf Coast Classic, and he did so with an impressive average speed. You can speak of a training beast, a "young dog," but others say it is simply stupid.

Indeed, former pro-Rory Sutherland offers strong criticism in response to the X-Message below. "As an 18-year-old with hopefully at least 12-15 years ahead of him, this (in my opinion) is not only extreme but also poor coaching and long-term planning for an athlete's health," said the Australian. 

Well, maybe the sport has changed, or it is a stupid action. The future will tell. Last week, we spoke to the young Dane about his experiences at the Tour Down Under, his first cycling pro race.

Ten Dam and Dekker ride 1000 kilometers through Rwanda

February 1 - Laurens Ten Dam is currently in Rwanda. Together with Thomas Dekker, the national coach of the Dutch women's team is riding the Race Around Rwanda, a bikepacking race through the African country. He also encounters some routes that will be used during this year's World Championships in Kigali. Fortunately, only a tiny portion of the bikepacking race is included in that course because much of it can only be done with a gravel bike...

Van der Poel established partnership with watch brand Richard Mille

January 31 - Mathieu van der Poel drives around in an expensive Lamborghini. Still, besides an agreement with the Italian car brand, he is now entering into a partnership with Swiss watch brand Richard Mille. In an Instagram post, the world champion shows off his new watch: a RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat, a sports watch that suits him just fine. The price? More than 300,000 euros.

Read more below the Instagram post!

With a cool video, Van der Poel showed before the start of the most essential cyclo-cross weekend of the year that he is ready for Sunday's battle. In the footage, the defending world champion coolly pulls a wheelie, then from a sprint, takes the bike on the shoulder in one smooth motion. "Every second counts," said the Alpecin-Deceuninck star.

Van der Poel, Van Empel, Brand and Vanthourenhout test reaction time

January 31 - To be a top rider in cyclo-cross, you must master all aspects of the sport. The power to make the difference, the steering skills to stay upright, and the stamina to cope during running. However, a perhaps underrated aspect is responsiveness because you can decide in a split second, which can have significant consequences.  

Before they went into action, Fem van Empel, Lucinda Brand, Michael Vanthourenhout, and Mathieu van der Poel were put to the test. Six sticks were dropped at random; these had to be caught. The defending women's world champion was up first. With one hand, she managed to catch two sticks.

Vanthourenhout did a little better. The Belgian of Pauwels Sauzen—Cibel Clementines missed the first two but got somewhat revenged by catching three. Brand was more unlucky. The winner of the World Cup standings, who may be the top favorite in Liévin on Saturday, could only grab one. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

And then it was Van der Poel's turn. The world champion took a different approach: he tried to catch the sticks with two hands, which turned out to be a golden move. The rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck saw all six poles and thus prevailed in this section. His competitors can start packing their bags if that is a prelude to Sunday.

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