Van der Haar closes Superprestige series with victory in Gavere

Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) landed his first win since taking the Dutch cyclo-cross title a month ago at the final round of Telenet Superprestige in Gavere on Saturday. The European ‘cross champion made an aggressive move halfway through the contest to distance himself from all chasers and win by more than a minute ahead of Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), and another 32 seconds ahead of teammate Toon Aerts.

Iserbyt sealed the overall title in the season-long series with a total of 97 points, a five-point advantage over Aerts. Van der Haar closed with 80 series points for third place overall.  It was the first overall title at Superprestige for Iserbyt.

"I am happy that I finally achieved that overall victory in the Superprestige. So I can already check that off my bucket list," Iserbyt said after the race to HLN.be.

Iserbyt won three of the seven Superprestige races held this season – Ruddervoorde, Jaarmarktcross and Merksplas – and was on the podium in two other contests. He also won the World Cup title in 2022.

Van der Haar was out for his first win of the series, and third victory of the season, having added the Dutch title in January to his European Cyclo-cross Championships victory.

“I felt very good from the start. In the end it became a hefty and long endurance training," Van der Haar said after the races to HLN.be. “At some point I picked up the pace. I went for a win and if necessary I could make the game tough for Toon Aerts.”

A silver medallist at the World Championships in Fayetteville, Van der Haar said the conditions were in his favour, as the course was not its typical heavy mud like past editions and what mud had been there for the women’s race had dried out. 

Aerts took the hole shot and would soon fall back in line behind Toon Vandebosch (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) with Iserbyt and teammate Michael Vanthourenhout, Aerts and Daan Soete (Deschacht-Group Hens-Containers Maes) forming a chasing group. 

On the third lap Iserbyt lost his balance on a descent and tumbled to the ground, telling Dutch media “I was even groggy for a while but wanted to drive on straight away.” He reconnected at the front to the Baloise Trek Lions duo of Van der Haar and Aerts.

Van der Haar tried to make separation on the fourth lap, putting in an extra effort at the front. By the next lap, he had a clear gap on Iserbyt and continued to extend his lead. 

Meanwhile, Aerts was the next rider to launch an attack by the seventh lap, but Iserbyt matched the power to keep him in sight, then struck out on his own by the bell lap.