"The World Cup standings are no longer what they used to be": Lars van der Haar pleads for changes to cyclocross World Cup

Baloise-Trek Lions's Lars van der Haar has pleaded for organisers to consider changes to the existing UCI World Cup as he believes the prestige of the event is falling.

"Everyone I speak to does not know what we are doing," the 31-year-old Dutchman tells In de Leiderstrui. "The World Cup standings are no longer what they used to be, you really didn't have to think about skipping a race in the past."

As he mentioned there, the skipping of World Cup races by the biggest names in cyclocross has become something of the norm nowadays. Van der Haar who has raced all but two of the thirteen World Cup crosses this season believes this is something that has to change going forward.

"I really think it: the World Cup standings are the least prestigious at the moment. There are so many races and you have to travel all over the world, but you get the same as in the Superprestige," he explains. "Eight or nine, that's more than enough. Just like it was before."