"It was a stupid mistake but I'm back and competing for the win again" - Toon Aerts takes stock after Namur heartbreak

Toon Aerts is still waiting for a first victory since his cyclocross return. In all honesty though, the Belgian can't come much closer without winning than he did on Sunday afternoon in Namur.

After putting in a brutal acceleration on the final lap, Aerts dropped rivals Michael Vanthourenhout and Emiel Verstrynge to head toward the finale solo at the head of the race. On the brutal off-camber section of the Namur course though, Aerts lost his footing and slipped into the barriers, allowing Vanthourenhout to come flying past and snatch the dramatic victory.

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"It was a stupid mistake. You know on this lap that this is the decisive point,” Aerts rues frustratedly in his post-race interview afterwards. “But that part didn’t suit me today. In the beginning, I fell there during the running part. And in the last lap I was completely à bloc, which made me make a big mistake.”

“At the moment I am a bit disappointed. But I watched this race on television two years in a row. They were two beautiful, wet editions. It hurt to watch that, but now I am back here and am competing for the win again," concludes Aerts, who missed much of last winter following a doping ban. "I think I have to think about that.”

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