After swearing and spitting in front of van der poel, cyclo-cross fans watch from the sidelines as (online) haters now target Iserbyt

After the recon, Iserbyt first made time to answer some questions himself. After he had already made an appeal to the media in Heerderstrand to do something about the harsh reactions, he again took full aim at the news outlets a day later. "I think it is mainly up to the media that allow responses to their reports to monitor them. Some media don't tolerate reactions, and I think that's a good thing. If you can't monitor it, you shouldn't allow it, in my opinion."

Not even talking about social media reactions, Iserbyt said, the hate among the many news reports was excessive according to him. "The media plays a significant role; they feed the people who read what the journalists write. Today, it is becoming increasingly important not to stir up public opinion. That is the most important thing for me, and the media realizes they play a significant role. It's not over for me. I'm racing again, so it will slowly start to fade, but these will remain issues that will always stay with me."

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"I haven't followed what has been said and am not involved with social media anyway. I do my own thing, am also already 30 years old, huh," Michael Vanthourenhout responded as Iserbyt's teammate to the same questions. "I can only imagine it's not nice when someone sends such messages. In that respect, I think the reactions also show some jealousy. It's not fun for anyone who has been discredited. Everyone makes mistakes, and Eli deserves a second chance. I last saw him in Ardooie, but I sent him a message that I thought the punishment was too severe. However, the UCI decided that we could do nothing about it. It was just unfortunate."

Vanthourenhout, therefore, makes an urgent appeal: "Everyone has their favorite, but that doesn't mean you have to start scolding others. We can't change much about it and can only call for everyone to be a little respectful to everyone. That would be nice. So says Lars van der Haar, who, on behalf of Baloise Trek Lions, has been competing for years as a Dutchman in a mostly Belgian sport. 'The real cross fans don't do it; those are the people we ultimately depend on."

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Still, even the now 33-year-old Van der Haar knows the problem is immense. Now, it is Iserbyt, but online and along the course, many riders are verbally assaulted in a year. Or physically: Mathieu van der Poel was spat on several times in the cross and on the road, and glass was thrown with urine and even a cap. This went so far in the cross that he spit a fan in the face last winter. "Behind a laptop, it's so easy to ruin someone completely. That's just really sad. Fortunately, I didn't experience it myself, although there were one or two comments that weren't fun to read once in a while. Come to the RV to talk, and then you can explain, and I can try to understand."

Starting the discussion is something Baloise Trek Lions team boss Sven Nys discourages his rider Van der Haar from doing. "There are lots of campaigns around bullying, and we have to put a stop to it, but through social media, it can just be done anonymously. You don't know who it is, so that's unfortunate and difficult to fight against. The only thing you can do is especially not respond to it. If you do, it only gets worse. In that case," Van der Haar suggests another idea: "You notice it everywhere, unfortunately, and I wouldn't know how to respond. It's a big anonymity behind the screen. Maybe turn off the comments? So that nobody can comment on your pictures anymore. Is that the solution? I've been doing this for fifteen years. It's been going well for fifteen years. But if you make one tiny mistake, they ruin you."

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"It is going hard not only on riders but also on everyone in the spotlight. On social media, people can very easily express their opinions without being taken to task," Nys continued. "That's not new, something social media has brought with it. It's a shame that nowadays, anyone can call themselves a journalist, and little is done about such comments. If you have a lot of success, you have a lot of critics who would rather have you fall on your face. I used to experience that as an athlete, too."

Van der Poel can confirm that as a star in cyclo-cross, although it is notable that Baloise Trek Lions, despite many wins, has its riders relatively little in the spot where (online) the hits occur. "We haven't really experienced it up close as a team, and it's also something I emphasize within the team perhaps more than performance: always try to behave correctly, even in a stressful situation," Nys said. "The long-term effects for the rider and the team are so negative, we must avoid that. Staying calm is the most important thing, but that is not always easy. I also understand that sometimes someone freaks out, but we insist on avoiding that. That's no guarantee it will never happen, but it's going well with us now."

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Devil's advocate: the video of Iserbyt and Kamp went around the world, and the cross was back in the spotlight for a while. Dutch champion Joris Nieuwenhuis said this "is good for cyclo-cross." Nys couldn't entirely suppress the same opinion. "You don't want to be the person experiencing it yourself, but it has always existed around races and belonged to the cross. I'm not saying it should happen weekly because I also condemned Eli's action. But it does draw attention, and we're doing another interview about it now."

According to Nys, if Iserbyt wants to avoid such reactions, he should just behave himself. "Eli realizes what he did was completely wrong, and you get criticism. Apart from the UCI punishment, he will suffer the consequences in the coming weeks or months. Everyone knew that the impact was going to be very big. Unfortunately, that's part of being in the spotlight."

Why is Iserbyt not the head of the pack for the first time, and his riders remain out of harm's way? Nys doesn't know exactly why. "Whether you are liked or not can have to do with riding style or how you communicate to the outside world. I'm not saying that's the case with someone like Eli, but those kinds of factors can contribute to something like that. You can't always control that; you must stay by yourself. If you always stand behind your statements and how you race, that tends to slip away from you."

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])