{"id":239833,"date":"2025-11-02T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/239833\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T16:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:06:10","slug":"a-beautiful-edition-and-i-enjoyed-it-as-much-as-i-could-lars-van-der-haar-bids-farewell-to-the-koppenberg-and-to-cyclocross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/239833\/","title":{"rendered":"“A beautiful edition, and I enjoyed it as much as I could” \u2014 Lars van der Haar bids farewell to the Koppenberg and to cyclocross"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Still, Van der Haar fought back impressively to secure sixth place. \u201cI rode the same lap times the whole race, and then you always know a few will fade. But to be honest, I didn\u2019t really know exactly where I was in the race,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

From teenage memories to a storied careerVan der Haar\u2019s announcement earlier in the week that he would retire from cyclocross<\/a> was no coincidence, as it came just before the Koppenbergcross, a race filled with personal memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already raced here as a junior, back when the finish was still at the bottom. Over the years, I\u2019ve had so many stories here: from arguing with my mother to standing on the podium with Sven Nys and eventually winning twice,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman, who has been one of the sport\u2019s most consistent performers over the past decade, received a huge number of messages following his retirement announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were more reactions than I expected. Hundreds, actually. And the Dutch media was also much more interested than I thought, even NOS sent a camera during election time. That\u2019s really cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite his long list of achievements, Van der Haar admitted he was surprised by the warmth of the response. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the cyclocross world, you don\u2019t expect that. You always have the feeling that you\u2019re only as good as your last race. If that one isn\u2019t great, you think everyone has forgotten you. But apparently, that\u2019s not quite the case,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n

\"larsvanderhaar<\/p>\n

Lars van der Haar got 41 professional wins so far<\/p>\n

The sacrifices behind the decision<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old explained that the increasing difficulty of the lifestyle and the mental strain of constant sacrifice were the main reasons to call time on his career. \u201cI noticed the sacrifices were becoming harder, and at some point, you start to feel it in training. This year, it got worse. I felt unbelievably unhappy on the bike in road races. I just didn\u2019t see myself doing that for another year,\u201d he confessed.<\/p>\n

He elaborated on the demanding lifestyle professional cycling requires. \u201cThink of the things you have to give up: you don\u2019t visit friends or family, you always go to bed early, you don\u2019t drink alcohol… and you don\u2019t take your daughter to the playground because you might get sore muscles the next day. At a certain point, you stop getting satisfaction from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van der Haar also reflected on how cycling has evolved during his career – not always for the better, in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started, there wasn\u2019t nearly as much data. We had fun. Now, at the table, it\u2019s all about wattages, nutrition, sleep, and so on. Everything is measurable, and that\u2019s what everyone talks about all day,\u201d he said. \u201cMeanwhile, I\u2019m just like: guys, go ride your bike. It\u2019s a different world now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Still, Van der Haar fought back impressively to secure sixth place. \u201cI rode the same lap times…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-239833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}