Baloise - Trek Lions' Lars van der Haar has completed a comprehensive victory at Koppenbergcross 2024 ahead of Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts, sending a message ahead of this Sunday's European Championships in Spain.
At the end of the first lap, Eli Iserbyt held a small advantage at the front of the bunch from his own teammate Michael Vanthourenhout. Things were still quite tightly bunched though, with Toon Aerts leading the chasing pack behind the Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal duo. Seemingly, some of the fans in attendance hadn't forgiven Iserbyt for his recent controversies though, with the Belgian national champion drenched by thrown drinks from some of those behind the barriers on lap 2.
Despite this drama, Iserbyt was still well positioned at the front, although Aerts had dragged back to the front, bringing Lars van der Haar and Thibau Nys with him. At the start of lap 4, Van der Haar took to the head of the race and began to really put the hammer down, creating separation between himself and the rest of the group.
Having put in the fastest lap of the race on lap, as lap 6 began, Van der Haar had stretched out his lead to 30 seconds from Iserbyt, with Aerts 39 seconds back and Nys at 41. As Van der Haar took the bell for the final lap, he had moved even further clear at 38 seconds up on Iserbyt, with victory all but assured. As Iserbyt began to make a couple of mistakes, Aerts could dream for a moment of moving up to second, but in the end, Van der Haar led home with Iserbyt holding off Aerts' challenge for 2nd behind.
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