Wonderful Wout van Aert returns to winning ways at Superprestige Gullegem Cross after thrilling battle with Eli Iserbyt

Wout van Aert is back! Back to his best and back to winning ways, having taken victory at Superprestige Gullegem Cross this Saturday afternoon following a thrilling battle with Belgian national champion Eli Iserbyt.

Although Wout van Aert wasn't on the front row at the start, all eyes were on the Visma star as the racing got underway. The Belgian got off to a solid start as well, but it was Michael Vanthourenhout in the lead at the end of the first lap, controlling from the front and setting a fast, but controlled pace to string things out behind.

The in-form Laurens Sweeck was also still very much in the mix and began to show himself at the front for the first time on 3, with Vanthourenhout and Van Aert quickly on the Crelan - Corendon leader's back wheel, sensing the potential danger. In truth though, any killer moves were still yet to take place with things relatively tightly packed at the front at the end of lap 3.

For the first time on lap 4 though, Van Aert made his presence known at the front of the race and immediately things exploded behind. By the end of the lap, only Vanthourenhout had been able to keep the wheel of Van Aert, 10 seconds clear of the next rider on course, Joran Wyseure. With Van Aert making a couple of small errors on lap 5 though, both Wyseure and Eli Iserbyt were soon back in contact, making a four-man group at the front.

Iserbyt was the next man to make a move too, attacking on lap 6 and getting a small gap ahead of his rivals, although Van Aert was leading the charge of the chase. As the two Belgians began to break free of Vanthourenhout and Wyseure, the fight for victory started to look like a two-horse race at the front. Despite Van Aert's best efforts though, he was struggling to fully distance the gritty and determined Iserbyt.

On the final lap, Iserbyt and Van Aert traded the front of the race in a thrilling battle. As Iserbyt suffered a couple of technical issues though, Van Aert began to get a gap and as it turned out that proved decisive and it was the three-time world champion who prevailed.