Van der Haar focused on one thing only in Koksijde: "Finish as close as possible behind Van der Poel, purely for rankings"

Lars van der Haar has had an excellent start to 2024. The 32-year-old cyclo-cross rider of Baloise Trek Lions, the team led by Sven Nys, finished fourth in both Baal (January 1) and Koksijde (January 4). Both races were part of the X2O Trophy, the regularity classification in which Van der Haar currently has the lead. IDLProCycling.com met up with the ever charming Dutchman for an interview after the sandy cyclo-cross race in West Flanders!

First things first: Van der Haar seemed to be doing well in Baal in the battle for the final rankings of the X2O Trophy. Iserbyt, who can be labeled as his biggest rival, was notably absent. However, Van der Haar could not fully capitalize on this absence, as Mathieu van der Poel dominated on New Year's Day. Moreover, in the X2O Trophy, the well-known five-minute rule applies, meaning Van der Haar hardly extended his lead over his Flemish opponent. "Everything can still change. Things look great now, but Cameron Mason is also doing well, and what about the fact that Eli is hardly leaving anything on the table here?", he told this website at the time.

"If Mathieu finishes two or three minutes ahead again in Koksijde, then Eli benefits and can easily make the podium in the X2O," said the 'Terrier of Woudenberg'. And so it was. To be more specific: Van der Poel finished the Flemish Dunes Cross in Koksijde 1.53 minutes ahead of Van der Haar, who still made significant progress towards the overall victory. At the time of writing - with three races to go - he is 3.33 minutes ahead of Van der Poel, 4.24 ahead of Mason and 4.45 ahead of Iserbyt. That should be enough, one might say. "Here in Koksijde, at one point, I was no longer concerned with the result of the race itself," Van der Haar began his race analysis for IDLProCycling.com. "If I had been, I might not have continued riding, but instead would have focused on the podium. I simply tried to finish as close as possible behind Mathieu, hoping to gain as much time as possible. I was riding purely for my spot in the rankings."

Van der Haar did not really ride together with Van Aert

Keeping the gap under two minutes is something Van der Haar would have definitely signed up for beforehand. "That's what I wanted. I knew that if Mathieu was unleashed, it would even be difficult to stay within three minutes. And he was unleashed once again, although I think he also just enjoyed himself. But I can still be very satisfied and happy with this. I achieved what was most important to me," said Van der Haar, who during the race briefly rode with Wout van Aert (who eventually finished third). However, the two did not really ride together. "It didn’t last long. Together with Gianni Vermeersch, we caught up with him. At one point, I rode off, but pretty soon after that Wout caught up with me again and took off. It was kind of a back-and-forth."

"But as I said, I just kept riding with the rankings in mind," he emphasizes once more what had the highest priority in the race right off the Flemish coast. "At one point, I had Wout in my wheel. I could have asked him to take over. If he didn’t, Gianni would have caught up again. Or I would have lost time anyway. I thought to myself, just keep riding, because if Wout is better, he’ll ride off again anyway."