Laurens Sweeck takes third place in Dendermonde behind unstoppable Pim Ronhaar: "Pim didn't ride yesterday, which I think made a difference"
Cyclocross
Laurens Sweeck finished third behind the Dutch Pim Ronhaar and Lars van der Haar in the Dendermonde World Cup. Halfway through the cross, the Belgian was unable to respond to an impressive attack from Ronhaar. Later, Sweeck was also passed by Van der Haar, who crowned a good progress with second place.
"I was competing for the win for a long time. In the end, however, I no longer had the legs," says the number three in the flash interview. "Luckily it was only seven laps, because if I finished eighth I might not have been on the podium," Sweeck can laugh about it.
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While Sweeck is known as the king of the sand strips, he also performed more than creditably in the mud on Sunday. "I was on board from the start and had the feeling that we had the situation well under control, with Toon. However, Pim suddenly had a serious acceleration. He left at a time when we were both having a hard time. I'm happy that I was able to recover a bit afterwards and keep third place. Pim didn't ride yesterday, which I think made a difference."
Sweeck has not yet won this season. Due to a small muscle tear - suffered in the first cross in Beringen - he is still lacking top form for the time being. "I'm not far from it. It can certainly be better, but I'm certainly not bad at the moment. I still need some competition. I am used to starting in September and this season I started a little later and was also a bit behind."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- 18 broken bones. 78 crashes, among 30 rider per year is a lot. so for a rider over 15 seasons, they will break their bones 7-8 times and crash 38 times.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- i dont think he is ready ot win against the top 2 or the 2nd rung of evenepoel, del toro , Almeida. In the third week in the TDF he was very very defensive, no attacks. i think he was exhausted. right now he needs time not the brutal Giro or the intense TDF.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- Rota is an excellent rider to get in a break with because he always does his turnchapmanesque04-11-2026
- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
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