No disappointment for Toon Aerts after agonising 2nd in Dublin: "After such a long period of misery, that is a heavy word”

Toon Aerts looks as if he's hardly lost a step over the course of his much-documented doping suspension. Although a first victory of the season remains elusive, the 31-year-old Belgian put in arguably his best performance yet on Sunday afternoon, finishing 2nd at World Cup Dublin.

“On the one hand, there is disappointment, but after such a long period of misery, that is a heavy word,” he reflects afterwards. “I am at peace with finishing on the podium today. Those are still the steps I have to take. Today was very tactical and I did quite well. But in the end, I may just lack the punch to start those hills at the front. And maybe I let myself get a bit carried away at those beams. But I can only be happy if I get on the podium at my second World Cup. Let the rest come.”

As mentioned, a first victory still hasn't come for Aerts but it certainly doesn't seem too far off on current form. "Is the first victory a matter of time? Yes, it is," he confidently predicts. "I was good again today, despite a training week with a lot of hours. Now the freshness is coming back. Next week might be a difficult one for me, but after that there will be a nice weekend with Herentals and Namur, I think.”

"It was a battle between the two teammates (Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout, ed.), me and some other guys. I can do that. But we were so close to the finish and it started to get a bit slippery because of the rain, so it was difficult to win. However, I am very happy with this second place. I rode a good race,” Aerts concludes positively. "The last few weeks I started from the fifth row. Then it is difficult to have a good start. Today I started on the first row and I was the first to dive into the field. It is nice to start like that. During the race itself I noticed that I am at the level where I want to be.”