"He came to our training as a 15-year-old with his big mouth" - Dutch national coach recalls anecdote of first meeting with Lars van der Haar
Cyclocross
Lars van der Haar is now one of the most successful stars in cyclocross. The Dutch national coach, Gerben de Knegt has been incredibly impressed with his compatriot's progress in recent years.
"If you see where he is now, I think it is especially great that he has reinvented himself," de Knegt reveals in conversation with In de Leiderstrui. "A few years ago his career was successful, but I didn't know at the time whether he would continue for another five years or whether he would stop. Now he has found a new role for himself and started winning again. He has made the click that he can really win."
The Baloise Trek Lions rider has two victories to his name already this campaign at the UCI World Cup in Maasmechelen and Superprestige Overijse. It's true that the biggest stars in the discipline are yet to make their appearances known this season but van der Haar still has reason to confident according to de Knegt. "Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert participate, he will ride for third place, but in the past he has resigned himself to that a little too quickly," says the Dutch coach. "It didn't work out, but now he has more peace as a married dad. That also ensures stability."
"I've known him for a long time, because I even raced with him," he recalls. "A lot of people don't even know that, but when I was still cycling myself, he came to our training as a 15-year-old with his big mouth. Then I thought: what kind of guy is this?"
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- Not sure that can be true, in that USA Cycling is part of the UCI.acem8226-12-2024
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- Funnier: this website keeps giving credo to their ramblings. In this case, why in any possible way would Boonen want to create a fantasy world to attach himself to these two clowns when more likely he would want to forget he was even there? Laughable.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- A sociopath is an informal term used to describe someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a mental health condition characterized by a chronic pattern of disregard for social norms, laws, and the rights and feelings of others.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Rowe spent his whole career on one team being nothing more than a thug for Skyneos. I have no idea why another team would want import this type of person into their program.Sweep26-12-2024
- “CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to family and friends of Pascal.” Paging a copy editor….menk26-12-2024
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024