Mathieu van der Poel again came up short in the battle against Wout Van Aert when he had to settle for second at the Scheldecross in Antwerp.

"Something happened behind me, so I tried to make a gap. Today I always had the intention to stay ahead, so when Wout caught me, I immediately knew that we had to continue," van der Poel told Het Nieuwsblad.

"Normally I am not satisfied with a second place, but I have learned from the past weeks. Wout really rides at a high level. So when Wout passed me, I immediately focused on second place. I had no response. In the last race I tried to hang on and I blew up, but I have learned from those mistakes. I just wanted to maintain my second place. I have a heavy week of training behind them. If I handle that well, I have a good chance in the next few weeks. I hope I will have a better day and a good night tonight and that I can recuperate better for tomorrow in Namur than I did last week in Francorchamps. If you have good legs, the race in Namur is the most beautiful of all."