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Lars van der Haar © Bart Hazen

Lars van der Haar © Bart Hazen

by Bart Hazen

European champion Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Offroad) has won the U23 race at the Superprestige in Diegem, Belgium. After a thrilling race the little Dutch rider was the fastest in the sprint over Wietse Bosmans. Van der Haar’s teammate Mike Teunissen completed the podium. Joeri Adams, Gert-Jan Bosman (both Rabobank), Vincent Baestaens, Corne van Kessel, Mathieu Boulo, Gianni Vermeersch and Ole Quast completed the podium. Due to his win, van der Haar extends his lead in the Superprestige series. American national champion Danny Summerhill didn’t have the legs he showed in the Zolder World Cup, where he took 13th place, and finished in 34th, over three minutes down on the winner. Zach McDonald (36th), Jerome Townsend (40th), Steve Fisher (48th), Chris Hurst (51st), Cody Kaiser (56th) and Joseph Schmalz (57th) finished the race as well.

The winner of the World Cup in Zolder, Wietse Bosmans, still had a pair of good legs and broke clear early in the race. Bosmans was followed by Rabobank riders Adams and Van der Haar at 6 seconds. At the moment that van der Haar went down in one of the many icy corners, Adams bridged up to Bosmans. In the penultimate lap Adams crashed too and it looked like Bosmans was on his way to take another big win.

Behind Bosmans a group of three Rabo’s formed, with van der Haar, Mike Teunissen and Gert-Jan Bosman. The three made it a kind of team time-trial, and used that dynamic to their advantage. In the final lap they caught Bosmans. Bosmans turned onto the final straight in first position and made it a long sprint. In the final meters, van der Haar came around to add another big win to his impressive season’s account.

Photo Gallery:

Full Results:

1 Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team 0:48:01
2 Wietse Bosmans (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
3 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team 0:00:05
4 Joeri Adams (Bel) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team 0:00:10
5 Gert-Jan Bosman (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team 0:00:15
6 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 0:00:28
7 Corné van Kessel (Ned) 0:00:34
8 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:40
9 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 0:00:53
10 Ole Quast (Ger) Stevens Racing Team
11 Elia Silvestri (Ita) Guerciotti 0:00:59
12 Marcel Meisen (Ger) 0:01:03
13 Tim Merlier (Bel)
14 Karel Knik (Cze)
15 Arnaud Grand (Swi) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team
16 Tijmen Eising (Ned) Sunweb-Revor
17 Vinnie Braet (Bel) Sunweb-Revor
18 Jim Aernouts (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
19 Jens Adams (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
20 Twan van den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl
21 Michiel van der Heijden (Ned)
22 Kobus Hereijgers (Ned) ZZPR.nl 0:01:30
23 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team 0:01:36
24 Micki van Empel (Ned) ZZPR.nl 0:01:49
25 Kenneth Hansen (Den) 0:01:58
26 Matteo Trentin (Ita) 0:02:01
27 Sven Beelen (Bel) Sunweb-Revor 0:02:05
28 David van der Poel (Ned) BKCP-Powerplus 0:02:19
29 Radek Polnicky (Cze)
30 Angelo De Clercq (Bel)
31 Joeri Hofman (Bel) 0:02:24
32 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Cycling Champs 0:02:34
33 Michael Boroš (Cze) Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor 0:02:39
34 Daniel Summerhill (USA) Garmin/Team Holowesko Partners
35 Kristof Cop (Bel) APB Cycling Team
36 Zach McDonald (USA) Rapha Focus 0:03:18
37 Geert van der Horst (Ned) 0:03:37
38 Matej Lasák (Cze) Max Cursor 0:03:44
39 Aurelien Gizzi (Fra) 0:03:52
40 Jerome Townsend (USA) BikeReg.com / Joe’s Garage / Scott 0:04:00
41 Jens Gys (Bel) 0:04:10
42 Ivo Plevák (Cze) Max Cursor 0:04:25
43 Michael Schweizer (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 0:04:39
44 Niels Koyen (Bel) 0:04:44
45 Raf Risbourg (Bel) 0:04:50
46 Jonas Guddal (Den) 0:04:54
47 Elie Regodst (Fra) 0:05:05
48 Steve Fisher (USA) Rad Racing Nw-Hagens Berman Llp
49 Wenzel Bohm Graber (Ger)
50 Paul Herman (Fra) 0:05:18
51 Chris Hurst (USA)
52 Bart Barkhuis (Ned) WV Meteoor Assen-Roden
53 Stef Boden (Bel) Sunweb-Revor 0:05:33
54 Rudy Kowalski (Fra) 0:05:52
55 Jelle Cant (Bel)
56 Cody Kaiser (USA) California Giant-Specialized 0:07:08
57 Joseph Schmalz (USA) KCCX/Verge p/b Challenge Tires
58 Robin Poelvoorde (Bel) 0:07:26
59 Maxime Huygens (Bel)
60 Vincent Van Hooste (Bel) -2laps
61 Matthias Boetens (Bel)
62 Sieën Veestraeten (Bel)
63 Loris Tursi (Ita)
64 Alexis Caresmel (Fra) -3laps
65 Kris Vermeir (Bel)
66 Jean-Baptiste Taleux (Fra)
67 Bruce Dalton (GBr)