"He immediately showed who was boss": Lars van der Haar on Mathieu van der Poel:

Lars van der Haar's priority at the X2O Badkamers Trofee at this point in the season is to get the overall win. Hence, he was busy battling Eli Iserbyt today in Herentals, but was nevertheless impressed by the performance of Mathieu van der Poel.

“We knew Mathieu was going to be good, but I didn't hope for such a first lap. That we could have at least gone with him for a few laps. But he immediately showed who was boss,” van der Haar said in a post-race interview. The Dutchman was never on the heels of his compatriot, who deserted the rest of the competition on the first lap immediately. From there on searching victory was not possible and van der Haar focused on the threat of Eli Iserbyt, his most direct rival on the cup classification - and Cameron Mason, who the duo worked to try and distance.

"I had a good first lap, but Eli had a slightly better first lap. That immediately took me ten seconds. That was a sad moment for myself, but I couldn't ride any faster. That was it. I tailored the rest of the race a bit to Eli," he said. "I tried to get away a few times, on the 'Ski Mountain' I tried to make the gap a few times. But I think Eli and I were evenly matched. In the end it came down to a sprint and I was just able to achieve a podium place.”

He managed to outsprint the Belgian in the end and extend the gap, but only slightly. Only nine seconds separate the two after three rounds, whilst Cameron Mason is now 1:15 minutes back. “I'm going to keep fighting hard for it. Eli is simply a great rider. It's just not easy to win against him. And he is a guy who is there from the beginning of the season to the end. We have to hope for a weak moment from him, but that could happen to me one day too.”