Lars van der Haar finished in fifth place at the fourth round of the World Cup Cyclo-cross in Namur. World Champion Mathieu van der Poel took the win, following a spectacular finale.

After the race van der Haar said: “I felt good, but unfortunately I faced some bad luck today. After my attack I crashed at a bad moment. I had a difficult lap and ran into a counter. I had difficulties to regain my rhythm and the podium was gone.

“I chased alone and fourth place would be possible. But in the final lap I had a bad technical section so Klaas [Vantornout] passed me.

“Not the result I was aiming for but the shape is good. I didn’t feel my shoulder during the race. I will continue to train good and we move on to next week’s World Cup Heusden Zolder.”