Not crying in fetal position, but mashing the pedals during disliked European Championship, Pim Ronhaar deals with terrible summer

On Friday, Ronhaar crossed the line in the Koppenbergcross in sixth place on the grueling cobblestone climb. A result that will have done him good because once the bad luck started in June, the snowball quickly multiplied. It began with "problems" (read: a pulled muscle) in the Baloise Belgium Tour after the road season had started so well. After stage and overall wins in the Flèche du Sud and a stage victory in the Tour de la Mirabelle, he returned to the Ethias-Tour de Wallonie.

Lidl-Trek had seen enough and offered Ronhaar the chance as a trainee. That started in the Tour of Burgos, but he did not finish that round. He also did not finish in the Circuito de Getxo. They pulled the plug after one more day of racing with the Lidl-Trek U23 squad during the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen in Belgium. Lyme disease, it turned out. "This was a big setback for me mentally. Currently, I am on antibiotics, and they are doing their job, so I can finally cycle again," he said in early September.

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As he recovered, preparation for the cyclo-cross season could begin. Back in the colors of the cyclo-cross team Baloise Trek Lions, another setback followed in early October. "I fell into a ravine but luckily got out with some bruises. It could have been much worse," so he shocked his Strava followers. Three weeks later, he was still at the start of the Nacht van Woerden (the Netherlands), and Ronhaar immediately finished fourth.

Four days in Heerderstrand (the Netherlands), he followed with a second place immediately after his first podium finish. It is an impressive achievement because, besides all the physical delays, Ronhaar also received a hefty blow on a personal level. "I get a little emotional about it. I lost a family member, an uncle, last week; he was a big fan. I rode for him today," he said after his second-place finish.

"It's going well," he told Ronhaar with a smile, speaking to IDLProCycling.com at Koppenberg in Belgium a few days later. "I think all this has even made me stronger mentally. I've had a lot of setbacks, and I had a hard time with that in the beginning. The only thing you can do at a time like that is to stay positive. If you start thinking negatively, you're only going to ride worse. I could turn the switch, and now I'm doing fine."

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And yet, Ronhaar's basis could not be as good as if he had been able to run a complete preparation for the European Championship in Pontevedra on Sunday. Lars van der Haar, however, already predicted in Overijse (Belgium) that he was not worried about his compatriot. "Pim is always going to be good; I'm not afraid. Even after his run-up, he already has another podium finish behind his name."

Ronhaar listened to it while smiling. "I think Lars is right because I showed last week that I am already riding well again. The Koppenbergcross in Belgium is purely on condition, so I expect I'll still be slightly behind. I'll see; I'll let myself be surprised." Sixth place will undoubtedly have been a surprise in that regard.

At the European Championships in Spain, he finished in the 20th, but that didn't tell the whole story. He initially saved the race he didn't feel like doing. With solid mashing on the pedals, he neutralized Eli Iserbyt, serving Van der Haar. He passed Michael Vanthourenhout and thus opened the race for his country and teammate, who, however, came up against a superior Thibau Nys. Ronhaar came in just under three minutes from the winner, knowing he would be a factor to watch in the coming weeks. And that after a summer to quickly forget....

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])