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