Mathieu van der Poel's 408-day cyclocross winning streak came to an end at the DVV Verzekeringen trofee Hotondcross in Ronse on Saturday. The world champion was beaten by more than two minutes to finish third behind Belgian champion Toon Arts (Telenet-Baloise Lions) and runner-up Eli Iserbitt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).

"I wasn't good enough," Van der Pol told Wielerfritz after the race. 'I always try to win, but you can't win them all. Toon Arts was very strong today. He always does a great job on a track like this."

Aerts snapped Van der Poel's cyclocross winning streak of 36 straight at Hotondcross Van der Poel's winning streak began at the 2018 Koppenbergcross. This season, he has nine wins in November and December.

Wins this fall include Telenet Superprestige Ruddervoorde, UEC Cyclocross European Championships, Jaarmarktcross, Tabor World Cup, DVV Verzekeringen trofee Flandriencross, Ambiancecross, Koksijde World Cup, and DVV Verzekeringen trofee Kortrijk. He also won the Lampiris Zilbermeer Cross in December.

The cyclocross world champion had just returned to racing in Ronse after spending two weeks at a training camp in Spain in preparation for the road season.

"Normally I have to compete with him in good faith, but [after the training camp] I always have to wait. It wasn't too bad. From (training camp) it can get worse, but it can also get better," van der Pol said.

On the rain-slicked track at Ronce, van der Pol was unable to keep up with Aerts when he made his winning move on the opening lap.

Aerts built up a 30-second to over a minute lead over second-place Isabeat. Van der Pol was eager to close the gap midway through the race, but eventually stalled and barely managed to hold on to third place by more than two minutes. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels-Sausen-Bingold) finished fourth, four seconds behind.

"When you start a difficult race with a lack of concentration, you make a lot of mistakes. I knew right away that I couldn't close the gap any more," van der Pol said.

Van der Pol will be on the start line for Sunday's Vlaamse Druivencross, hoping for a better performance.

"The second day could be better, of course," he said. 'But [the training camp] was very difficult. But (training camp) was very difficult.