🎥 Ronhaar had Van Aert on his case after racing incident in Hulst: "Wout was not very happy"

The World Cup race in Hulst was one full of incidents. For example, eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel spat towards a group of hecklers along the way. Earlier in the race, there was also another incident, as there was a skirmish between Wout van Aert and Pim Ronhaar. IDLProCycling.com listened to the stories of the 'main characters' in the latter incident after the Dutch race.

What exactly happened between the superstar of Jumbo-Visma and the top talent of Baloise Trek Lions? In a tricky turn, Van Aert wanted to overtake the Dutchman, but instead collided with the amiable Frisian. The result was a fall for Van Aert, who, to make matters worse, also suffered mechanical problems. "I was in Mathieu's wheel. There are right-angle turns there. Wout tried to squeeze in, but I was in front of him. I had the inside corner, he was on the outside," the 22-year-old Ronhaar explains near his camper.

Van Aert says he congratulated Ronhaar after the finish, the Dutchman speaks of "not very happy Van Aert"

"There is only one track there. Apparently, I pushed him into the fences. I spoke to him briefly after the finish. He was not very happy," Ronhaar states. "I understand that, of course, although I suspect he would have done the same if it had been the other way around. I will speak to him on January 1st in Baal to apologize. It was certainly not my intention to push him away, but I think I was just defending my position. And he would have done the same."

A greatly disappointed Van Aert gave his account of the incident to a very select group of cycling journalists. "I congratulated him on his fourth place," the Flemish rider seems to tell a slightly different story than the man from the north of the Netherlands (or is it a strong dose of cynicism?). "I thought: let me congratulate him. I don't know if I would have done it the same way as Pim in the past. But in the end, it was just shoulder to shoulder. I end up in the scenery, unfortunately with the chain off my bike as well. That was just the beginning of the bad luck. Later, I also had a flat tire."

Video: Van Aert falls after shoulder-to-shoulder duel with Ronhaar and has equipment failure