Wout Van Aert's rivals were not surprised by his victory in his return to cyclocross on Saturday, and there is growing concern that the top step of the podium may be out of reach in the future.

The three-time world champion had been holding back his expectations ahead of Saturday's super-prestige race, having not raced cross since the World Championships in January, having not raced at all for the past two months, and having caught a cold midweek.

But in the sloppy mud, he cleared the field on the second of seven laps and, despite crashing on the way to the finish, finished nearly two minutes ahead of the rest of the field.

"What Wout Van Aert has achieved here is unbelievable," Toon Aerts, who came closest to him in second place, told Sporza.

"It was expected that he would join the front immediately, but to put in such a lap in just one lap shows a lot of confidence. This race will give him even more confidence in the coming weeks."

Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbitt, third and fourth in the boom, said the same thing when asked about Van Aert's run.

"I didn't look good myself," Yzerbito joked.

"What he did today was huge. Reed was huge. He has always been at a high level on the road since last winter. Wout is very good on this course. We have to expect a few more fast races to keep up with him."

Van der Haar added, "We were behind on the first lap. Fortunately we were able to move up, but by the time we got to the front, one of the racers had already started flying."

Iserbitt, van der Haar, and Aerts were the top riders this season, with Iserbitt winning five out of eight World Cup races, three out of five Suel Prestige races, and van der Haar winning the European title.

However, the complexion of this season is about to change. In addition to van Art's furious return, there is the quiet booming debut of Tom Pidcock, and four-time world champion Mathieu van der Pol will join them later this month.

"I'll be honest. With Van Aert's run, it could be a victory-less Christmas," Aerts concluded.