Impressive Lars van der Haar solos to victory in Koppenbergcross, bizarre incident with ‘fan’ and Eli Iserbyt

Lars van der Haar has won the Koppenbergcross. The Dutch rider won the first round of the X2O Trophy after a blistering attack on the fifth lap. Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts finished second and third. The cross in Oudenaarde was marred by a bizarre incident; a spectator threw a cup over Belgian champion Iserbyt in full cross.

Despite the European Championship in Spain on Sunday, the organization of the Koppenbergcross could count on a good field of participants. All eyes were on Thibau Nys, but Eli Iserbyt, Michael Vanthourenhout, Pim Ronhaar, Lars van der Haar and Toon Aerts also had a shot at victory in Oudenaarde.

The best start on Friday was reserved for Thijs Aerts. Toon’s brother was then rushed past by the young Yorben Lauryssen, who briefly attracted all the attention. Iserbyt and Vanthourenohut crept towards their teammate’s rear wheel, while Nys and Aerts had to chase on the first lap. The two did manage to close the gap during the climb Bult van Melden.

Spectator throws full cup at Iserbyt
However, Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt continued to drive at a good pace, which meant that Nys and Aerts did not simply join up again. That happened not much later, at the end of the second round. Van der Haar, who had to come from a little further away, also settled into the leading group thanks to a good passage of the Koppenberg. In the meantime, Iserbyt had to deal with a particularly unfortunate incident. The Belgian champion was given a full cup of beer by a spectator.

So after 30 minutes we still had five leaders. At the start of the penultimate lap, Van der Haar attacked, after which Iserbyt had to give chase. Nys played the team game and stuck his rear wheel to Iserbyt. However, Van der Haar struck no-time a particularly large hole. Iserbyt came anything but closer, meaning Van der Haar started the last 20 minutes with a very nice lead.

Strong Van der Haar
No one yet managed to get close to Van der Haar. Nys was also no longer able to follow Iserbyt, the winner of the cross in Overijse suffered a setback and had to settle for fourth place. Van der Haar had enough time to cheer at the line, he won with more than half a minute ahead of Iserbyt. Aerts finished third, the first podium of his cyclo-cross season.