“Maybe I was a bit too eager" - Wout van Aert battles to fifth in Hulst despite continued bad luck

Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Wout van Aert at the UCI World Cup in Hulst on Saturday afternoon. Despite it all however, the Belgian impressively battled to fifth place.

"The start didn't go well, so I had to make up a few places early on," recalls van Aert to the Jumbo-Visma website post-race. "Unfortunately, I crashed in the fight for positions. In the end, my chain broke. I lost a lot of time. When I was finally able to start my chase, I had a puncture and had to ride half a lap with a flat tyre. That was the end of my fight for the podium.”

In truth it wasn't a great day for any of the cyclocross 'Big 3'. With van Aert's bad luck, Tom Pidcock also crashing early and being forced to try and fight his way through the pack and even race-winner Mathieu van der Poel leaving Hulst under a dark cloud after spitting at a spectator in the crowd.

"I felt great the last few days”, Van Aert continued. "Maybe I was a bit too eager. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well today. But I kept fighting and didn't let my head down after the various setbacks. Luckily, the next opportunity will come soon.”