The raucous crowd at the Men’s Elite race at CrossVegas was treated to a show of tactics when top American and European stars traded blows. In the end, a youngster snatched the victory. Current under23 Cyclocross World Champion Lars van der Haar (Rabobank) took the win a very tight three-way sprint that came down to a photo-finish.

“I have a pretty strong sprint.. It was amazing, I could not see the line so I wasn’t sure I won.” said van der Haar a few minutes after crossing the line.

Christian Heule (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) took second and Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea), third.

The field shattered on the first lap with a lead group of 18 which was quickly whittled down to ten riders after a strong attack by Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus). Off the front were van der Haar and his teammate Bart Aernouts, Heule and his teammates Tim Johnson and Jamey Driscoll, Peeters and his teammate Bart Wellens, Ryan Trebon (LTS/Felt), Todd Wells (Specialized), and Powers.

For the next laps, attacks and counter-attacks flew in a game of tactics with Trebon doing most of the chasing to close down any gap.

“The strong riders keep going even if some attacks are happening and then you have the not that strong riders who lose a little gap and then they come back when the race becomes tactics at the front again. The thing is to see on which riders’ wheel you can stay and which rider you have to pick when it is fast.” Heule explained the tactical game.

Driscoll was the first rider to manage to escape, gaining ten seconds with three laps to go. Seeing that both Johnson and Heule were blocking at the front, Wellens took a solo flyer to bridge up to and then drop Driscoll.

“It was a little bit gambling, it was waiting, waiting or going for the attack, and I choose the attack. I came with Driscoll and I thought with two we are stronger than alone but it was not good enough so I go alone with still three laps, it was long, half lap too long.”

Wellens soldiered on alone until he was caught on the final lap. A few more attacks from Powers, Trebon and Peeters were neutralized with the group reforming before the final corner.

“When I saw Wellens get caught I was pretty far behind. I saw Peeters go and I thought I could never win. When we went into the last turn I was with the front group again. I know that I can sprint really well. I decided to give it everything I have. At first I thought I would not even get on the podium but then I saw the first three slow down. I think they were pretty tired. I know I was pretty tired.” van der Haar concluded.

photos ©Lyne Lamoureux