Ten years have passed since Wout van Aert's first world championship title in Heusden-Zolder and yesterday the Belgian seemed ready for his first seasonal victory on the same course. Ten years later, the story would have written itself, but he hadn't counted on twenty-two-year-old Tibor Del Grosso. Another great Dutch talent, always from the Roodhooft brothers' stable, physically almost a perfect copy of Mathieu van der Poel: he's the one who beat yesterday's big favorite.

Since that world championship title in January 2016, Wout van Aert has only lost to Mathieu van der Poel in Heusden-Zolder, but yesterday the photo finish defeat came with Tibor Del Grosso, who was stronger in the sprint. "Before that world championship title in 2016, I had never won on this course," van Aert said after the race. "So I wasn't so sure I could win. I can't help but be satisfied, because at Hofstade, the gap from Mathieu was wide, this time it was much narrower. But obviously I'm disappointed. When you're so close, you just want to win."

A bad start and a sprint not played in the right way certainly influenced the result, but the Flemish rider appeared calm and is waiting to race again. "In my previous races, the starting straight was much shorter and I always positioned myself with the leaders. Now, however, we had a long starting straight and I got trapped. I could barely pedal until the first turn. But that's not where I lost the race. I had to recover some positions, but I managed the situation well. And regarding that sprint: I wanted to get rid of Del Grosso in the last lap, so I took the initiative. Consequently, I was in the lead and, unable to break away, I entered the final straight first, against the wind and on a slight uphill."

Van Aert analyzed his race with extreme clarity, certain he only mismanaged the finale. "I couldn't start too early, because otherwise Del Grosso would have come out of my slipstream. In hindsight, I think I should have handled it differently. Did I deliberately slow down the pace for the sprint? No, I had just pushed the pace and was looking for a moment to recover."

Van Aert immediately understood that Del Grosso was at a good level and that the race would be between the two of them. However, the Belgian is happy with these first races and will therefore have a peaceful Christmas. "My first block of races was overall a success. Antwerp was tough, as expected. Hofstade was already much better, and yesterday went well, even if I would have liked to win. I'll skip Gavere on Friday, so the Christmas dinner can be a bit more substantial. At the same time, I can't wait to do my next race on Sunday in Dendermonde. It will be on dry ground and I'm curious to see what kind of race we'll have."