Emotions were running high for Toon Aerts after he won the men's elite race at the European Cyclocross Championships on Sunday, not just because he had taken a major win, but because it was his biggest, landmark win after returning from a doping suspension.
Aerts, 32, returned to competition in February of 2024 after being banned for two years after the banned substance letrozole was found in his system in 2022. The Belgian spent more than a year trying to fight the provisional suspension, arguing that the substance came into his body via a contaminated substance.
