After eight victories out of ten, Wout Van Aert had to settle for two second places at the European Championships and in Ruddervoorde in one weekend. "I'm not going to lose sleep over this," he tells Het Nieuwsblad. "At the European Championships, I was disappointed, but I also know I cannot win everything."

"The public might be expecting me to win every week, but I have always kept my feet on the ground. Her I was up against a very strong Kevin Pauwels and I must admit that I was not feeling fresh. My first laps were not good and I just needed to get the good feeling in my legs. In the end I was better, but the win was already gone. Kevin had built a nice lead. I was still trying to close the gap, but I kept riding a few seconds back. Two laps from the end I knew that the victory was no longer possible. I turned my focus to second place and did a good thing for the overall standings. It is on such bad days that you can lose the win in a series."

Before the start of the season, Van Aert said that he would not start in the Superprestige races in Diegem and Francorchamps to make the busy Christmas period slightly easier and to avoid destroying the important month of January. Today he was still cautious. "I'm still young and I have to make choices. Before the start of the season I said that I would take a decision in December about my participation in a number of competitions at the end of the year. It is still too early to say anything about it and it also depends on the overall standings I'm leading. I'm in the lead in the Superprestige series and I think you should have respect for such a classification and take the start. We'll see how things will go in the coming weeks and then make a decision about my races."

On Wednesday Van Aert has decided to skip the Jaarmarktcross in Niel. "That was already decided. It will do me good to skip a race."