Van der Haar edges out Alaphilippe

On a sloppy course in Hoogerheide, Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Off-road Team) wrapped up the overall win in the World Cup with a win on his home soil. The Dutch champion recovered from a miserable start and overtook Julian Alaphilippe (France) in a last-lap effort.

"It was my plan to sit back in the lead group but due to my bad start I couldn't move up. It took much longer than expected but I'm glad I pulled it off," Van der Haar said.

Italian champion Elia Silvestri powered first into the sharp left-hand corner for the hole shot, while top favorite Van der Haar ended up riding halfway back in the bunch. It took almost a lap before four riders separated themselves in front: Tim Merlier (Belgium), Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium), Arnaud Grand (Switerzland) and Julian Alaphilippe were the early leaders. Behind them was a chase group led by Silvestri, Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) and a Dutch train of five with Van der Haar at the back.

A few riders caught up with the leaders but right at the end of the third lap Alaphilippe jumped away in front. Behind him the pace dropped and the French rider quickly gained a lead of eight seconds. By the end of the fourth lap Alaphilippe had eighteen seconds on a group with Vanthourenhout, Merlier, Grand, Michiel Van der Heijden (The Netherlands) and Van der Haar.

During the following lap Van der Haar started his attempt to catch the sole leader. "I was surprised by the gap he had but it happened because they didn't race behind him. I figured that because I'm one year older than him I should have more power so I could go faster than him on the road. Uphill I know I could handle him. That I knew since the race from last week where I rode on his wheel for one lap," Van der Haar said.

In the end it took Van der Haar about a lap to catch the French leader. With the first chasers at twenty seconds the winner was to be found among the leading duo and in the penultimate lap they rode together. Van der Haar led Alaphilippe and it turned out he pushed the French rider to the limit.

Halfway through the last lap Alaphilippe started making small mistakes and he lost contact with Van der Haar. "Probably I attacked too early," Alaphilippe said. "In the last lap I was at my limit. Lars was too strong and too smart." The Dutchman didn't make any mistakes and reached the finish line with a small gap over Alaphilippe.

Half a minute later Van der Heijden held off Vanthourenhout and finished third, securing his ticket for the world championships in the high-quality Dutch selection. "This is a great result. Normally this wouldn't be a course for me as it comes down to technical skills but then again due to the mud there's some power needed too. I started my cyclo-cross season later and maybe that's why I'm so fresh," Van der Heijden told Cyclingnews.

Merlier – not selected in the Belgian team for the world championships - completed the top five. The sixth place for Mike Teunissen (Netherlands) was enough to secure his second place in the overall World Cup ahead of Alaphilippe.

Half a minute after Teunissen, three under-23 champions rolled across the finish line. Italian champ Silvestri blasted past US champion Zach McDonald and Belgian champion Wietse Bosmans (BKCP-Powerplus). Being able to crack the top 15 after such a horrible start was really impressive and McDonald acknowledged that. "I'm happy with the outcome after my terrible start. From there I didn't want to wait but the traffic is there so I tried to be patient. It played in my advantage that I race with the pro's in the USA and I'm used to race for 60 minutes. In the final laps I had more left in my tank that many others. I moved up more than I did in Liévin last week," McDonald told Cyclingnews.

The riders in the Men Under 23 category battle it out for the world championship title on Saturday afternoon in Koksijde, Belgium.

Full results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Netherlands0:50:09
2Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) France0:00:03
3Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Netherlands0:00:28
4Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Belgium0:00:45
5Tim Merlier (Bel) Belgium0:00:51
6Mike Teunissen (Ned) Netherlands0:00:56
7Arnaud Grand (Swi) Switzerland0:00:59
8Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Belgium0:01:05
9Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) France0:01:14
10Emiel Dolfsma (Ned) Netherlands-B0:01:21
11Elia Silvestri (Ita) Italy0:01:23
12Zach Mcdonald (USA) United States0:01:24
13Wietse Bosmans (Bel) Belgium0:01:32
14Micki Van Empel (Ned) Netherlands0:01:34
15Corne Van Kessel (Ned) Netherlands-BRow 14 - Cell 2
16Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Czech Republic0:01:47
17Luca Braidot (Ita) Italy0:01:53
18Marek Konwa (Pol) Poland0:01:57
19Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Belgium0:02:03
20Karel Hnik (Cze) Czech Republic0:02:08
21Michael (Jr) Schweizer (Ger) Germany0:02:13
22Tijmen Eising (Ned) Netherlands-B0:02:14
23Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Czech Republic0:02:15
24Jakub Skala (Cze) Czech Republic0:02:16
25Radek Polnicky (Cze) Czech Republic0:02:27
26Vinnie Braet (Bel) Belgium0:02:32
27David Menut (Fra) France0:02:47
28Gert-Jan Bosman (Ned) Netherlands0:02:55
29Clément Venturini (Fra) France0:02:56
30Kenneth Hansen (Den) Denmark0:03:15
31David Van Der Poel (Ned) Netherlands0:03:16
32Kenta Gallagher (GBr) Great Britain0:03:19
33Stan Godrie (Ned) Netherlands0:03:50
34Yannick Mayer (Ger) Germany0:03:53
35Camille Thominet (Fra) France0:03:58
36Michael Wildhaber (Swi) Switzerland0:04:15
37Emil Arvid Olsen (Den) Denmark0:04:19
38Jack Clarkson (GBr) Great Britain0:04:28
39Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland0:04:42
40Douwe Verberne (Ned) Netherlands-B0:04:47
41Vojtech Nipl (Cze) Czech Republic0:04:51
42Inigo Gomez Elorriaga (Spa) Spain0:04:58
43Vincent Dias Dos Santos (Lux) Luxembourg0:05:08
44Max Walsleben (Ger) Germany0:05:18
45Lex Reichling (Lux) Luxembourg0:05:19
46Kévin Bouvard (Fra) France0:05:32
47Cody Kaiser (USA) United States0:05:54
48Jonas Pedersen (Den) Denmark0:05:56
49Steven James (GBr) Great Britain0:06:06
50Jon Gomez Elorriaga (Spa) Spain0:06:21
51Ludwig Söderqvist (Swe) Sweden0:06:46
52Luke Gray (GBr) Great Britain0:06:59
53David Hidalgo Garcia (Spa) Spain0:07:01
54 (-2 laps)Wojciech Malec (Pol) PolandRow 53 - Cell 2
55Domas Manikas (Ltu) LithuaniaRow 54 - Cell 2
56Bartosz Pilis (Pol) PolandRow 55 - Cell 2
57Patryk Kostecki (Pol) PolandRow 56 - Cell 2
58Michel Vuelta Izquierdo (Spa) SpainRow 57 - Cell 2
59 (-3 laps)Kiernan Orange (Can) CanadaRow 58 - Cell 2
60 (-4 laps)Talius Kalina (Ltu) LithuaniaRow 59 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
U23 Men World Cup final standings
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Netherlands220pts
2Mike Teunissen (Ned) Netherlands145Row 1 - Cell 3
3Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) France131Row 2 - Cell 3
4Arnaud Grand (Swi) Switzerland102Row 3 - Cell 3
5Elia Silvestri (Ita) Italy98Row 4 - Cell 3
6Stan Godrie (Ned) Netherlands95Row 5 - Cell 3
7Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Belgium95Row 6 - Cell 3
8Wietse Bosmans (Bel) Belgium88Row 7 - Cell 3
9Gert-Jan Bosman (Ned) Netherlands87Row 8 - Cell 3
10Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Netherlands87Row 9 - Cell 3
11Micki Van Empel (Ned) Netherlands81Row 10 - Cell 3
12Tim Merlier (Bel) Belgium79Row 11 - Cell 3
13Vinnie Braet (Bel) Belgium76Row 12 - Cell 3
14Zach Mcdonald (USA) United States68Row 13 - Cell 3
15Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Belgium67Row 14 - Cell 3
16Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Czech Republic63Row 15 - Cell 3
17Vojtech Nipl (Cze) Czech Republic54Row 16 - Cell 3
18Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) France54Row 17 - Cell 3
19Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Czech Republic48Row 18 - Cell 3
20Karel Hnik (Cze) Czech Republic48Row 19 - Cell 3
21David Van Der Poel (Ned) Netherlands47Row 20 - Cell 3
22Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Belgium46Row 21 - Cell 3
23Clément Venturini (Fra) France42Row 22 - Cell 3
24Luca Braidot (Ita) Italy36Row 23 - Cell 3
25Marek Konwa (Pol) Poland32Row 24 - Cell 3
26Tijmen Eising (Ned) Netherlands29Row 25 - Cell 3
27Yannick Mayer (Ger) Germany25Row 26 - Cell 3
28Jens Adams (Bel) Belgium24Row 27 - Cell 3
29Radek Polnicky (Cze) Czech Republic24Row 28 - Cell 3
30Emiel Dolfsma (Ned) Netherlands22Row 29 - Cell 3
31Corne Van Kessel (Ned) Netherlands16Row 30 - Cell 3
32Diether Sweeck (Bel) Belgium16Row 31 - Cell 3
33Kenneth Hansen (Den) Denmark16Row 32 - Cell 3
34Jakub Skala (Cze) Czech Republic13Row 33 - Cell 3
35Stef Boden (Bel) Belgium12Row 34 - Cell 3
36Lubomir Petrus (Cze) Czech Republic12Row 35 - Cell 3
37Michael (Jr) Schweizer (Ger) Germany12Row 36 - Cell 3
38Igor Smarzaro (Ita) Italy10Row 37 - Cell 3
39David Menut (Fra) France10Row 38 - Cell 3
40Christophe Balannec (Fra) France9Row 39 - Cell 3
41Floris De Tier (Bel) Belgium9Row 40 - Cell 3
42Max Walsleben (Ger) Germany7Row 41 - Cell 3
43Lars Forster (Swi) Switzerland7Row 42 - Cell 3
44Sven Beelen (Bel) Belgium6Row 43 - Cell 3
45Michael Boros (Cze) Czech Republic5Row 44 - Cell 3
46Kévin Bouvard (Fra) France4Row 45 - Cell 3
47Bryan Falaschi (Ita) Italy3Row 46 - Cell 3

 

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