‘If I’d seen a red towel fluttering, I would have quit’ – Lars van der Haar rides last Cyclo-cross World Championships of career with imminent birth of son as top priority

There were tears and words of appreciation for his sport from long-standing top cyclo-cross racer Lars van der Haar, when he managed to complete the last World Championships of his career on Sunday – as well as some nerves about an ongoing family situation.

Despite hurting his knee during the race, Van der Haar finished 19th, clearly delighted to be able to celebrate compatriot Mathieu van der Poel, who took a record-breaking eighth title on home soil.

“My wife is waiting at home,” Van der Haar said in comments reported by Het Laatste Nieuws. “With our first daughter, things happened very quickly and I would have dropped out of the race. We had a red towel for that.”

“If I had seen it fluttering, I would have quit.”

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The imminent arrival of Van der Haar’s second child meant he had not slept much, and he did not even head to the race itself until Sunday morning, HLN reported.

He got off to a good start, but then bumped his knee, and his chances of staying with riders fighting for fourth place evaporated.

“I’ve never had so much pain in my knee. It was the end of the race. If the pain had stayed, I wouldn’t have made it to the finish. I couldn’t ride anymore, but luckily the pain went away after half a lap,” he said.

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At the finish, Van der Haar was in tears, saying, “It’s just a beautiful sport. I enjoyed it so much.

“It’s just so wonderful to ride for your own country. To see everyone perform, to be at their best here, to see Mathieu win his eighth world title.”

Referring to the setbacks in his last race, he said, “In the end, I didn’t enjoy it, but maybe I should have enjoyed it more. As a top athlete, you still want to achieve a result.”

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