Van der Haar impressed by Van der Poel: "I was stuck with my head between the frames, he went so incredibly fast"

Van der Poel broke away in the first round, a move that pained Van der Haar. I wasn't expecting Mathieu to start off so quickly, as I usually find the first round challenging. Eli managed to just hang onto his wheel and gain a ten-second advantage, which really made it tough for me. Coming back from a training camp, I tend to be a bit slow to start because you push yourself hard there. In a cyclo-cross race, you're pushed by the competition. It's always a bit of an initial shock, and I need a moment to adjust. I'm hoping to get back into my stride from Sunday and into the next week."

He realized too late that Van der Poel had already made his move. "I didn't even see him take off in the first round. I was around fifth or sixth place at the time, so by the time I got going, he was way ahead. It was a bit of a 'damn' moment, but more because I was trying to catch up with Eli. That was my main focus." Iserbyt, in particular, is Van der Haar's biggest rival in the race for the top spot in the X2O Trophy general classification.

"Mathieu, I only saw him at the start, really," Van der Haar said with a smile. "I was stuck with my head between the frame, he was so incredibly fast. I'm quite impressed with what he showed. To be able to compete like that without prior races is really remarkable. You know he's good, but I had hoped it would take him a couple of laps to get into the groove. We should enjoy that," he said, figuratively tipping his hat.

"We rode really hard and aimed for the best possible outcome, but you can see Mathieu is just on another level," Van der Haar honestly concluded. "Maybe we had hoped the first round would be a bit easier, but that effort on the Skiberg was definitely a Mathieu-type effort. I'm not giving up, but it just wasn't in the cards this time. From that point, it was all about focusing on Eli."

Van der Poel not participating on Sunday in Namur doesn't make a difference, according to the Baloise Trek Lions rider. "Every race is important to me. This championship matters a lot, but Eli is also an incredibly strong rider. He's already halfway to winning the World Cup, so maybe he'll focus more on the X2O Trophy. Anyway, I'll approach Sunday just like any other race."