Lars van der Haar takes solo victory in Maasmechelen for first World Cup win in nearly two years
Cyclocross
Lars van der Haar has powered his way to victory in Maasmechelen in a chaotic round of UCI World Cup action. Eli Iserbyt and Laurens Sweeck completing the podium.
With overtaking opportunities relatively few and far between on the Maasmechelen course it was key to get off to a good start. The best at the end of the first lap were Michael Vanthourenthout and Pim Ronhaar with the duo gaining an advantage over the rest of the field in the early stages.
By the end of lap 2 though, Lars van der Haar had dragged the chasers back into contact with Vanthourenhout, who looked to have an issue with Ronhaar remaining a narrow leader.
Over the next lap and a half, Ronhaar continued to dangle, tantalisingly out in front of the chasing pack before Eli Iserbyt completed the catch with the front of the race becoming a trio of Ronhaar, Iserbyt and Thibau Nys.
As Nys began to put the hammer down, a couple of errors began to happen, first one from Iserbyt saw the World Cup leader begin to stretch an advantage before Nys then got his handlebars caught allowing his rival to get back in contact.
The next rider to try and attack was van der Haar and as Iserbyt and Nys both made more errors, the Dutchman was soon out front solo.
With five laps gone, van der Haar was really pressing his advantage as behind, Nys whilst not catching the Dutch national champion was beginning to ride clear of the rest in second.
Despite having had a number of errors, the aggressive riding of Eli Iserbyt was keeping him in contact and he managed to drag his way back to Nys on lap 7 and after overtaking the young Belgian, Iserbyt began to hunt down van der Haar.
At the bell, van der Haar had 17 seconds lead over Iserbyt, with Nys closely behind him. That gap proved more than enough for victory for the Dutchman but a late crash for Nys saw him drop down and allowed Iserbyt to ease to second. Also benefitting from the Nys crash was - who secured third.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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A round of applause for 🇳🇱 Lars van der Haar! #CXWorldCup
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