Toon Aerts facing financial consequences following UCI suspension

Toon Aerts has been given a two-year suspension from UCI due to testing positive for a banned substance, the Letrozole Metabolite. As a result of this decision, Aerts is now facing financial consequences, including the potential loss of earnings from previous wins.

During the previous season, Aerts emerged as the overall winner of the X2O Badkamers Trofee, resulting in earnings of 30,000 euros. However, there is a possibility that his results from this competition may be invalidated due to several races being held after the positive test for a banned substance was recorded.

The X2O Trofee events held in Lille and Brussels transpired after Aerts' test for a prohibited substance returned a positive result. If these results are revised to Did Not Finish (DNF), Aerts will relinquish the title of the overall winner but will still be able to hold onto third place in the competition.

"As soon as the UCI officially confirms the penalty, we will have to convert those results into a DNF, which is equivalent to a five-minute time penalty," Erwin Vervecken, spokesperson of organiser Golazo, told Het Nieuwsblad. He further added, "Even with two DNFs, Toon would still finish third in the final classification. We have already paid him that amount - 10,000 euros."