Lars van der Haar, one of cyclocross' best ever, will retire this winter at age 34

Lars van der Haar is racing his final cyclocross winter as a professional rider. At age 34, the Dutch veteran has decided to hang up the wheels in February and ride these last few months of his career all-out. In modern cyclocross, he has without a doubt stood out as one of the world's best.

"It’s time to tell you all I’m riding my last season as a professional cyclist," van der Haar said in an Instagram post. "I’ve had an amazing time on the bike for almost 25yrs. It created a whole life for me". The Baloise Glowi Lions rider is one of the veterans of the current field, and has in his palmarès four Dutch national championships titles and has titles in all of the key cups: the World Cup, X2O Badkamers Trofee and Superprestige.

This in itself is more than enough to have a successful career however van der Haar has more to show for including two European Championship titles in 2015 and 2021 and also nine World Cup race victories, spreading throughout 2013-2014 to 2023-2024.

Cycling has given him his life and has also created the base for what is to come in his post-cycling life. "I had the chance to work close with my family and friends. I’ve got a whole cross family and I found my wife because of cycling. We now have an amazing family with a new addition coming at the end of this season".

"This past year I found it hard to push myself in training and that made me think about whether this is still something I want to keep doing. After a really hard and difficult period of mixed thoughts, weighing up the pros and cons, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go for one more season and really give it everything this year and then start/find a new life and rhythm," he admits. "2025/2026 cross season will be my last… ever".

On the road he was also part of the Giant - Alpecin (current Team Picnic PostNL) team for two years at World Tour level, being one of the first to combine cyclocross with a top-level cycling schedule which would then be used by the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert to full success.

"All I can say is thank you to everyone who has helped me and supported me over the years. From Family to the spectators. Let’s make this last season something special!"