Lars van der Haar (Giant-Alpecin) put in a great ride today at the UCI Elite Men’s Cyclocross World Championships, finishing in second place behind Wout van Aert.
However, his great performance was somewhat marred by the antics of some of the spectators. On one section of the course as he was leading the race from van Aert, fans could be seen throwing beer at the Dutchman and it seems that some were also spitting at him.
Van der Haar seemed to take it in his stride though. “That’s part of it. I ride in the lion’s den,” he told Het Nieuwsblad after the race.
“The hostility is part of it, I think. That beer was thrown, but I didn’t mind. I thought the spitting was the worst. But it has not harmed me. I enjoyed that I could cycle at these World Championships.”
“I ride here of course in the lion’s den as a Dutchman in Belgium and in the lead just ahead of a Belgian.”
Best mud descender on the planet…and a nice lad.
Shameful 🙁
@eddie_km disgusting. Wasting beer as well. Out of order on both counts
Don’t do cyclocross but I understood the dirt is supposed to be on the route not in the crowd. Bad form.
It’s a shame !
There’s always an idiot. What gets me is why don’t the other fans throttle the idiot?
I was there, one drunken idiot of 80,000 to put things into perspective