'Double trouble' for Pim Ronhaar, who has to cancel last minute for the Baloise Belgium Tour

Ronhaar kicked off his road season on May 5 at the Elfstedenronde in Bruges and subsequently showcased some impressive performances. He won a stage and the overall classification at the Luxembourg stage race Fleche du Sud, triumphed in the prologue of the Tour de la Maribelle, and made a positive impression among WorldTour elites at the Antwerp Port Epic and Dwars door het Hageland.

The Baloise Belgium Tour, obviously important for sponsor Baloise, was supposed to be his next test. However, Ronhaar already had doubts at the start, as he shared at the team presentation in Beringen. "I have a strained muscle on the inside of my thigh from a fall in Hageland, where I crashed after twenty kilometers."

"I'm still in a lot of pain from it because I can't really lift my leg. It hurts above 200 watts. They say it won't cause any additional damage, but it depends on how it feels," said the Dutch rider, who was realistic and ultimately did not start. "It takes two to three weeks to recover from this, and maybe the National Championships will suffer if I can't ride well this week. But I hope that won’t be the case."

The muscle strain isn't the only problem he's facing, as a serious cold has also started to develop. "I'm beginning to catch a cold, so I'm not very optimistic," he mentioned before the Baloise Belgium Tour. Eventually, he added, "I only feel this miserable once a year, so I know I'm getting sick. It's mentally challenging for a cyclist to deal with both injury and illness."

"I had planned to take it easy throughout the week and then go all out in Durbuy, but we have to take it day by day. Maybe, by some small miracle, things could turn around," Ronhaar was already looking for a glimmer of hope in Beringen. Despite this, he felt positive vibes from his previous races. "I've built a lot of confidence. I was really looking forward to Saturday; it's a stage that suits me well and where I wanted to excel. I performed well in my other races too, though I sometimes lacked a bit of racing experience. I was very happy with my fitness level."

The matured version of Ronhaar we saw over the last winter months was clearly evident on the road. He wasn't surprised by his own progress. "We've ramped up our training. After the cyclocross season, I took a good break and then we began training harder than last year. It makes sense that I would take this next step."

A new milestone is looming: starting August 1, he'll intern with the WorldTour team Lidl-Trek. Is he already getting a taste of WorldTour knowledge? "I'll find out more after August 1. I've had some interactions with the team management, and we'll be sitting down soon to plan out my schedule. I haven't had extensive conversations with them yet, but it's a team with a significantly larger budget, so I expect the support services will probably be taken more seriously as well."

"I'm really excited about it," says an ambitious Ronhaar, who also wants to prepare well for his altitude training. "I hope to participate in some beautiful races abroad with plenty of hills where I can make a mark. As a preparation, I'd like to go on a training camp in July; I've been in touch with Thibau (Nys, ed.) to go to Girona. Or I might go on an altitude training camp, just like last year. But at the moment, I'm mainly focused on getting better, to be honest."