"The suspension cost me a lot of money" - Toon Aert 'happy that I can do my sport again' after two years away from the spORT

Toon Aerts tested positive for the substance Letrozole back in 2022 after the race in Flamanville, France. Two months later, road rider Shari Bossuyt tested positive for the very same substance after also racing in Flamanville. It was a highly contested and controversial suspension, but neither could prove there was contamination. Bossuyt had no financial means to continue the battle, whilst even the successful Aerts says that he struggled, without a result at hand.

Aerts' representative had said that they had found proof of contamination in a supplement but this was an open container, and they could not find it in a closed one. Eventually Aerts did not manage to prove his innocence and went through with the full two-year suspension, in which he kept training but also got a job as a physical education teacher.

“The suspension cost me a lot of money, more than I could earn as a PE teacher. My starting fee has dropped, but I am happy that I can do my sport again," Aerts said in words to Het Nieuwsblad following his second place in the Irish race. "For many people, this life is a dream. I certainly do not want to lose that realisation,

Aerts returned to racing at the end of the past cyclocross season but this situation, in which it seems very possible that he was indeed victim of accidental contamination, has taken two years out of his career, financially harmed him substantially and obviously tarnished his reputation.

“I still think about it every day," the 31-year old admits. "Sometimes because of something small that reminds me of it, but every now and then I also actively google Letrozole, looking for the piece of the puzzle that is still missing."

But this weekend he took a very strong and convincing second place in Dublin, coming very close to his first win since the comeback - whilst also gaining UCI points that slowly aid him to have better starting positions.

“I know what values ​​I have pedaled over the past ten years. At the moment I am not at my absolute top, but I am exactly where I should be. I certainly pedal what I used to pedal when I achieved podium places. Only the top has become much wider compared to two years ago," he says of his rivals.

"Nobody – except perhaps Eli Iserbyt and Niels Vandeputte – can currently say that they are consistently in the top five. Thibau Nys wins, but then also misses races. The same goes for Laurens Sweeck. If you made a mistake in the past, one rider would pass you. Now, with one mistake, you immediately lose five or six places.”