Toon Aerts realistic when thinking of upcoming races with van der Poel and van Aert: "There’s no point in kidding yourself that we’re going to beat them"

Toon Aerts is racing his first cyclocross season in years and he is truly back to his best level. The Belgian rider is once again fighting for big wins, specially in the courses with a lot of climbing. However, he knows that he will face a completely different situation once Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert begin their own calendars.

Aerts had a very strong weekend but also one with a lot of bad luck. In Herentals he attacked and gained ground on the first lap of the race, but a puncture saw him lose plenty positions and wreck his result. In Namur, he was in brilliant form and made the difference uphill. He was en route to his first big win in years, but a crash in the final minutes of the race saw him fall to second behind Michael Vanthourenhout.

Talking to In de Leiderstrui after the Sunday's main event in Namur, he wasn't as angry as you'd expect taking into consideration he still net a very strong result, but the disappointment was unavoidable: “I’ve already seen how hard it is to even get a podium spot, and there won’t be many more opportunities this season.”

But it can be argued that Aerts is at his very best level and more chances to win will come. He sits fourth in the X2O Badkamers Trofee but is now second to Vanthourenhout in the World Cup. In the next few weeks we will have the packed Christmas block with plenty races, including World Cup, where there will be more definition to the standings in these cups. But alongside it will also come the 'big two' who start their season on the 22nd and 23rd of December respectively.

“In Hulst, I need to survive and score points. Zonhoven and Gavere are two races that suit me well in the coming weeks. Two races where I want to compete for the marbles again," he says.

"But we also have to see who shows up at the start. You know that if those two rascals (Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, ed.) show up, there’s no point in kidding yourself that we’re going to beat them. But even then, a second place is still great," he concluded.