Lars van der Haar has bounced back from the disappointment of not retaining his Dutch national cyclo-cross champion’s title in strong form with an impressive solo victory at the Rucphen International cyclo-cross in The Netherlands.

Van der Haar took the race to the rest and pulled clear on his own early on, building a healthy lead over the field. With half the race gone he led by around 40″ over two chasers. This gap was to increase by the end of the race as van der Haar flowed through the muddy course on his Giant TCX Advanced Pro to take his fifth win of the ‘cross season.

Next up for van der Haar is the cyclo-cross World Cup final in Hoogerheide tomorrow (Sunday 26 January), before the World Championships in Tabor the following weekend (Sunday 1 February).

“It’s great to get my first win wearing the new jersey, and on home soil,” van der Haar admitted after the race. “I felt really good and just by following the wheels I managed to pull away with one other on the first lap. By the second lap I had pulled away on my own – it wasn’t really an attack I was just riding hard and felt good. I started to tire in the second half but had a decent gap to keep going until the end and get the win.

“Training in Spain last week was really good, and I spent some time training with both the men’s and women’s teams which was nice, as well as some good specific preparations with the trainers. Everything is taking shape now ahead of the World Championships. Tomorrow will be a different race with everybody there again but I’m feeling good and can hopefully continue to build ahead of Tabor.”