Marianne Vos and Lars van der Haar grab national titles in cyclo-cross | cycling

Vos jumped away early in the match and soloed to her first national title since 2017. Lucinda Brand, the winner in 2018 and 2019, still gave chase, but partly due to a fall, the world champion no longer came close to Vos .

Brand finished second about 20 seconds behind Vos and took silver, the bronze went to Alvarado. At the end of this month, all three will participate in the World Cup in Fayetteville, USA.

The Dutch National Championships would actually be held in Zaltbommel. However, when it turned out that no spectators would be welcome due to the corona measures, the municipality returned the organization. Last month there was a cross for the World Cup in Rucphen. Even then Vos won.

Van der Haar

In the men’s race, the victory went to Dutch champion Lars van der Haar. In the absence of Mathieu van der Poel, he stood head and shoulders above the rest. The battle for silver was a lot more exciting. Corné van Kessel eventually finished second after a hard fought battle and Mees Hendrikx took the bronze. He also won the U23 title.

The 30-year-old Van der Haar is the successor of world champion Van der Poel, who won the past six editions of the Dutch National Championships. Van der Poel ended his cyclocross season prematurely due to a back injury and was therefore absent from the national title fight.

Van der Haar also became Dutch champion in 2013 and 2014. After that, the Utrechter always had to lose out to Van der Poel at the Dutch National Championships. In Rucphen, Van der Haar was in a class of its own in the absence of Van der Poel. Corné van Kessel finished second after almost a minute.

Van der Haar became European cyclo-cross champion at the beginning of November on the VAM mountain in Drenthe. He has been riding in the European championship jersey ever since. Van der Haar also conquered the national tricolor in Rucphen. The Dutch champion hopes to be able to grab a medal at the World Cup in the American city of Fayetteville at the end of this month. Together with Van Kessel, he forms the small Dutch delegation for the men. In addition to Van der Poel, the Belgian champion Wout Van Aert is also missing at the World Cup.