Wout van Aert is having a superb season. The 21-year old Belgian has already won fifteen times this season and is the king of victories. In Belgium, he is already regarded as Sven Nys' successor but he doesn't want that honour. "I do not want to be the Sven Nys of my generation."

That does not mean that the Crelan-Vastgoedservice youngster has any bad feelings about Nys, he tells in the Hoogvliegers program. "Sven has been super strong and I have tons of respect for him, but it's a shame that he missed so many jerseys because he was always so greedy during the season." Van Aert refers to the fact that Nys always wanted to win everywhere and wants to gauge his effort careffully in the coming years. "That was a choice for him but I want to make a different choice. My ambition is to win more championships. "

Van Aert has a clear reason. Without a win at the Belgian Championships or the World Chamiosnhips, his season will still be 'lean' despite many victories. "In the past I have often missed out on the jerseys and you notice that it is what it is all about," says the Belgian. "It is nice to win all those races but if I miss out at the Belgian Championships or the Worlds, people still say that the season but was 'so so'. That is quite remarkable because other races are influenced by the intensity of these championships. Where there's a jersey at stake, it is a bit different."

For Van Aert, the two championships are both home races. The fight for the national jersey takes place in his hometown of Lille while the rainbow jerseys will be handed out in Heusden-Zolder. Both courses don't really suit Van Aert but he is going to make the best of it. "If I can take one of the titles, my season is successful although I would obviously prefer to win both. They are very good races, but I'm already content with one of the two. I don't want too much. With fifteen wins, I have a hard season behind me. I am in a good position in all classifications and if I can win one or two of those series, I can definitely speak of a great season."