Van Aert and Ronhaar getting along as colleagues again: "I appreciate that about Pim"

Saturday's cyclo-cross race in Hulst caused quite a bit of friction in the cyclo-cross world. Apart from Mathieu van der Poel's spitting incident and Tom Pidcock's headbutt, there was also a minor altercation between Wout van Aert and Pim Ronhaar, although it was quickly resolved. Both men discussed this with IDLProCycling.com after the New Year's cyclo-cross in Baal.

Let's go back to last Saturday: in the Dutch region of Zeeland, Van Aert and Ronhaar collided at a sharp turn, following which the Belgian had a brief breakdown. After the race, he made a small jab at the Dutchman. "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," said Van Aert. Ronhaar acknowledged that Van Aert "wasn't very happy" and promised to have a chat with him to resolve things.

In Baal, both men stood on the podium with Van der Poel, but the air had already been cleared before the race. At one point, it seemed as though they would be competing for second place, but Van Aert was clearly the better cyclist in Baal. "That didn't last long. I had a little chat with Pim, so I appreciate that about him. I didn't really know him before, so it's still the same relationship. As colleagues," Van Aert said after the cyclo-cross in Baal.

Ronhaar received hate messages from Belgium on Instagram

Ronhaar saw it as "an honor" to be on the podium with Van der Poel and also Van Aert, although he thought there might be some aftermath for him during the New Year's cyclo-cross in Baal. "It was mainly the Belgian media that hyped it up a bit, but that's part of it. It turned out to be not too bad here in Baal, but I was a bit scared beforehand."

"I called Wout after Saturday's race and we were all good," Ronhaar clarified that it definitely was not because of Van Aert himself. "But all of Belgium is naturally a fan of Wout's. I received a lot of messages from Belgian supporters via Instagram, and of course, it's not nice to read. I was afraid that something might happen."

"Of course, I had some people booing me," continues Ronhaar. "But if there are four or five, that's different than if there are many. I kindly thanked those booers in the last round," says the friendly guy from the Dutch city of Hellendoorn with a smile.