"Wout van Aert may have missed a course that suited him" - Paul Herygers laments star's absence from Cyclocross World Championships

Whilst the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Joris Nieuwenhuis and Michael Vanthourenhout were battling it out in Tabor at the Cyclocross World Championship, Wout van Aert was enjoying a leisurely ride in the Mallorca sunshine.

As part of Sporza's post-race review of this year's Cyclocross World Championship, the 1994 world champion, Paul Herygers was asked what he will remember from this edition. "That this was the World Championship of the favourites and that Wout van Aert may have missed a course here today that suited him."

Van Aert's old rival, Mathieu van der Poel was, in the end, a dominant winner in Tabor, taking the victory ahead of his compatriot, Joris Nieuwenhuis by nearly 40 seconds. "I also don't know if van der Poel had those wonder legs. But that's not necessary either. If you win by 1 second or by 37 seconds, it doesn't matter," analyses Herygers. "But it just might have been that Van Aert could have played a great role here."

In truth, it was a rather disappointing weekend for the Belgians as the Dutch dominated. "We do have quality in Belgium. But these are boys who will never reach van der Poel's level," explains Herygers. "If those 2 (van der Poel and van Aert ed.) wind down eventually. But they are 30 now, so they can last another six years and be there at the World Championship. The generation that is coming up now has to wait and wait and wait."