Two days after finishing third in the GP Sven Nys in Baal, Toon Aerts confirmed that he is a future cyclo-cross star in the making when he rode to a solo win in the cyclo-cross race in Leuven. The young Belgian spent almost the entire race in a solo move and not even a late crash could prevent him from claiming the win. Tom Meeusen made it a 1-2 for Telenet-Fidea and Vincent Baestaens completed the podium while pre-race favourite Sven Nys could only manage sixth.

With Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel already dominating the races at the highest level, their peer Toon Aerts has flown under the radar. However, with a third place Friday’s GP Sven Nys which is known as one of the most difficult races on the calendar, he proved that he slowly moving up the ranks and ready to fight for the podium at the biggest events.

Just two days after his breakthrough, Aerts confirmed his huge potential by claiming his first pro win at the Soudal Classics race in Leuven. The young Belgian benefited maximally from the absence of major stars Van Aert, van der Poel, Kevin Pauwels and Lars van der Haar who preferred to prepare for next Sunday’s national championships by riding to an impressive solo win.

Going into the race, most expected it to come down to a battle between pre-race favourite Sven Nys, Tom Meeusen and Belgian champion Klaas Vantornout. However, Aerts already showed his intentions on the first lap when he was part of a 4-rider group that escaped in the opening part of the race when Sven Vanthourenhout was unable to hold his wheel in the hardest section during the second lap, he was th lone leader at the end of the second lap.

A 9-rider group with the three pre-race favourites had formed behind Aerts but with Telenet Fidea having strength in numbers and drafting playing a big role on the circuit, it was evident that it would be going to be difficult to bring the in-form Belgian back. Teammates Meeusen, Eli Iserbyt and Jim Aernouts did a solid job to protect their teammate while Vantornout was taken out of contention by a puncture.

The gap continued to grow until Nys finally made his move at the halfway point of the race. He briefly escaped in a solo move and it looked like he was able to time trial his way back to the lone leader. However, Meeusen proved his strength and loyalty to his teammate by bridging the gap and when he made the junction, Nys clearly gave up. The veteran drifted to the back of the group and never hit the front in the final part of the race.

Instead, it was Meeusen who escaped and it became clear that the two Telenet-Fidea riders would occupy the first two positions. Nys found himself in a group with Julien Taramarcaz, Vincent Baestaens and Iserbyt but was clearly not interested in third place. In fact, he was dropped when he changed his bike in the penultimate lap and would roll across the line in sixth place.

Meeusen slowly reduced his deficit to Aerts but as he was still 18 seconds behind at the start of the final lap, only disaster could prevent Aerts from winning the race. However, that disaster nearly occurred when he hit the deck on the most difficult descent with more than half a lap to go. He was back on his bike very quickly but the incident had cost both momentum and time and Meeusen suddenly had him in sight. In an exciting finale, Aerts constantly looked back to check his teammate’s comeback but it was too late for Meeusen to grab a first victory in 2016. Aerts even had time to celebrate his first pro win before Meeusen rolled across the line as the runner-up. Baestaens beat Taramarcaz and Iserbyt in the sprint for third.

The race in Leuven was the final event in the small Soudal Classics series. Next weekend is a big one in cyclo-cross as the national championships will be held in most European countries.

How it unfolded:

Radomir Simunek took the hole-shot and led the peloton off the tarmac with one of his usual fast starts and he slowly built an advantage. Meanwhile, the three pre-race favourites Sven Nys, Klaas Vantornout and Tom Meeusen found themselves further back in the group and failed to make the split when Sven Vanthourenhout, Toon Aerts, Julien Taramarcaz and Eli Iserbyt took off in pursuit. The quartet caught the Czech leader just before the end of the first lap and the leading quintet reached the end of the first lap with a 10-second advantage over a chase group with Nys, Vantornout, Meeusen, Jim Aernouts and Vincent Baestaens.

Nys was doing all the work in the chase group while Aerts took over the pace-setting in the front group. As Vanthourenhout was unable to hold his wheel in the hardest section, the in-form youngster slipped off the front and quickly got a big advantage. As the pace went down, the Nys group caught the chasers and at the second passage of the line, a 9-rider chase group had formed behind Aerts.

Iserbyt and Taramarcaz took over the pace-setting as they started the third lap and the pair slowly pulled away. Meanwhile, it looked like Vantornout was suffering at the back of the group as Meeusen upped the pace. Only Simunek could follow the Belgian and the pair quickly made it back to Iserbyt and Taramarcaz. Moments later, Nys and Baestans also made the junction and at the third passage of the line, the chase group had been whittled down to 6 riders who were trailing the lone leader by 15 seconds. Aernouts and Vanthourenhout were a little further behind while Vantornout had suffered a puncture and had lost a lot of ground by the time he finally got a new bike.

Iserbyt led the chase for most of the next lap and when Baestaens made a mistake and Nys rode into him, the youngster got a small gap. He crossed the line as the nearest chaser, 18 seconds behind Aerts, while the 5-rider chase group was 10 seconds further adrift. Nys now found himself in a difficult situation, with two Telenet riders up the road and his teammate Vanthourenhout losing ground.

Simunek and Meeusen moved to the front and escaped in pursuit of Iserbyt and Aerts but the group quickly came back together. Moments later, the hard work by Simunek paid off as the youngster was brought back by the time they again hit the tarmac where Nys again took over the pace-setting, leading the group across the line 35 seconds behind Aerts.

Such a big gap was clearly a big danger for Nys who realized that he had to do something. As soon as he started the next lap, he upped the pace significantly and managed to put Baestaens and Simunek into difficulty. The latter even got a mechanical that took him out of contention.

Nys was riding full gas and when Iserbyt was unable to hold his wheel, he found himself in lone pursuit of Aerts. Meeusen found himself in a bad position but soon reacted and made it back to the veteran. When the junction was made, the pace went down and Taramarcaz, Iserbyt and Baestaens also made it back. Taramarcaz hit the front but as they reached the finish, the gap had gone out to 41 seconds.

Nys seemed to have given up and drifted to the back of the group. He didn’t even react when Meeusen launched an attack and he didn’t make the split when Baestaens and Iserbyt distanced both him and Taramarcaz.

Aerts was not slowing down and he still had a 35-second advantage over Meeusen when he reached the end of the seventh lap. Nys had slowly upped the pace again and brought the four chasers back together but at the passage of the line, they were more than 1 minute behind.

Meeusen was slowly closing the gap but still had 27 seconds to make up when he started the penultimate lap. Nys had clearly given up and was sitting in last position as he saw the four chasers continue to lose ground, crossing the line with a deficit of 1.26. However, as they hit the tarmac, he moved into second position behind Taramarcaz, indicating that he was still targeting a spot on the podium.

That impression disappeared pretty soon though as he made a very slow bike change in the pit and so was dropped by Taramarcaz, Baestaens and Iserbyt. The former was riding full gas in an attempt to obtain a rare spot on a major podium.

Meeusen continued his steady comeback and had reduced his deficit to 18 seconds by the time he started the final lap. Taramarcaz had been unable to distance his companions and Iserbyt and Baestaens were still with him as they crossed the line 1.24 behind the lone leader, with Nys slowly rolling across 12 seconds later.

It looked like the final lap would be almost ceremonial when a drama suddenly unfolded. Aerts hit the deck on the most difficult descent and even though he was back on his bike just a few seconds later, it had cost him both time and momentum. Meeusen now had him in sights and slowly got closer to his teammate. The final part of the lap turned into a nail-biting affair, with Aerts constantly looking back to check Meeusen’s progress but it was too late for the Azencross winner. Aerts even had time to sit up to celebrate his victory as he hit the finishing straight, with Meeusen rolling across the line 14 seconds later. Taramarcaz led the three chasers onto the tarmac one minute late but was passed by Baestaens who completed the podium. Iserbyt completed the top 5 before Nys rolled across the line in sixth.

Result:

1. Toon Aerts

2. Tom Meeusen

3. Vincent Baestaens

4. Julien Taramarcaz

5. Eli Iserbyt

6. Sven Nys

7. Radomir Simunek

8. Klaas Vantornout

9. Jim Aernouts

10. Jan Denuwelaere