Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) is off to a winning start to the cyclocross season with victory at the opening round of the Exact Cross series Beringen-Be-Mine Cross on Saturday.
Van der Haar closed the gap to a lead group that included European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and then took the race lead on the last lap, opening a winning gap and finishing 10 seconds ahead of Vanthourenhout. Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished third at 18 seconds back.
Race officials disqualified Belgian Champion Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) from the race after he intentionally stomped on Ryan Kamp's (Alpecin-Deceuninck) bike following a crash on the fifth lap.
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The race started with a large group led by Toon Vandebosch (Crelan-Corendon), who opened a small lead over chasers Felipe Orts Lloret (Ridley Racing), Vanthourenhout, Vandeputte, Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions), Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon), Iserbyt, Kamp, Van der Haar, Jente Michaels (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Daan Soete (Ridley Racing), and Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP), who returned to competition in February after completing a two-year suspension for an anti-doping rule violation.
The field split apart as riders crashed through a tight, downhill mud section of the course causing several pile-ups and one rider to go over the barriers and into the grass on the other side.
Ten riders stayed close together at the front end of the field with Vandebosch leading with a small gap as Orts Lloret led the chase behind, and the rest of the field split apart further back.
A select group reconnected on the second lap that included Crelan-Corendon teammates Vandebosch and Wyseure, Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates Vandeputte, Michaels and Kamp, Baloise Trek Lions teammates Nys and Van der Haar, along with Aerts, Orts Lloret, and Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal teammates Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt.
Wyseure attacked to go solo on lap three with Aerts leading the large chase group. The lead group again thinned out and split apart on the fourth lap as Vandebosch and Wyseure, Aerts, Vanthourenhout and Vandeputte gained ten seconds on the rest of the field led by Iserbyt.
On lap five, the five lead riders held only a slim lead and Van der Haar used that as an opportunity to punch to the front of the chase group and close the gap.
Just as they reconnected with the leaders, Iserbyt and Kamp, who were also part of the chase group, crashed on a muddy descent, their bikes tangled into the fencing on the left side of the course.
Iserbyt untangled himself from the orange fencing first and picked up his bike, but then appeared to have intentionally stomped on Kamp's bike as he tried to get back on the course.
Kamp struggled to untangle his handlebars from the fencing, and he appeared visibly upset, grabbing ahold of Iserbyt's jersey, as the pair then exchanged words.
Iserbyt got back on his functioning bike and raced toward the pits to take a spare bike. Kamp, on the other hand, was forced to run to the pits, unable to fix his bike which appeared to have a broken rear derailleur and a hanging chain. Kamp eventually reached the pits and received a spare bike but was much too far back to reconnect with the lead group.
Up ahead, Vandeputte led the race ahead of Vanthourenhout, Vandebosch and Wyseure, Aerts, van der Haar, Michaels, Nys and Orts Lloret at the start of the sixth lap.
Iserbyt crossed the line over a minute back and Kamp crossed the line at over 1:30 back. As Iserbyt passed through the pits, however, race officials asked him to stop and he was disqualified from the race.
At the front of the race, Aerts attacked partway through the sixth lap building a significant lead as Vandeputte and Vanthourenhout tried to close down the move, Van der Haar just off the back at the start of the penultimate lap.
Van der Haar proved strongest on the technical course as he caught up to Vandeputte and Vanthourenhout, as Aerts struggled to hold his pace at the front. Aerts was caught by the trio just ahead of the last lap.
Vanthourenhout counter-attacked but Van der Haar closed the gap on the last lap and took the lead and kept the pressure on for the last half of the circuit. He extended his gap over the flyover and onto the tarmac and crossed the line with the victory.
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