"I hate it but I love it" - Wout van Aert says goodbye to cyclocross season after epic battle with Mathieu van der Poel

Wout van Aert has had a winter of preparation with the sole goal of winning the World Championships. He's looked in great form all throughout the winter, but on the key day he failed to defeat Mathieu van der Poel.

"I hate it but I love it" read a post he shared on social media. Van Aert was visibly crushed following the second place in Hoogerheide as he was outsprinted by Mathieu van der Poel, despite having talked about how there wasn't much pressure to take this win.

Wanting to match the Dutchman's record of four wins in the World Championships, van Aert managed to withstand all the attacks that came from start to finish from the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, but lacked the explosivity in the final sprint to be able to match van der Poel.

“I'm disappointed that I didn't win," van Aert had shared in the flash interview yesterday. "I was under pressure from the first minute. I had a hard time especially in the first half hour. I felt like a cowardly rider in the wheel, there was little point in trying anything, because it wasn't going to work anyway. Mathieu takes it in the sprint, so chapeau.”