Wout Van Aert admitted that he is being forced to ride conservatively due to the form he has carried into this cyclocross season.
The Jumbo-Visma rider finished second behind rival Mathieu Van der Poel for the second time in consecutive days during the Cyclo-Cross World Cup round at Antwerp.
Van Aert has spoken about having a more balanced programme this season with a focus on his road goals in the Spring Classics, Giro d’Italia and Olympic Games.
He has a reduced cyclocross programme of just 10 races based around the Christmas period, with his final event in Benidorm on January 21.
After winning his opening race in Essen the Belgian went on a Jumbo-Visma training camp before finishing runner-up twice to Van der Poel on his return.
His Dutch rival had a difficult start in Antwerp, missing his pedal and then getting stuck behind a crash, resulting in a battle back to the front from the middle of the field.
Van Aert missed the drama but sat in the leading pack instead of pushing the pace in the absence of his rival.
When Van der Poel made his winning move, Van Aert did not respond but allowed his competitors to set the pace in pursuit.
Eli Iserbyt did the chasing behind before the power of Van Aert distanced his fellow Belgian competitor to take second.
“It felt quite good, actually,” said Van Aert. “I was in a good position at the beginning, and I took the race a bit more conservatively today and tried to follow the wheels. That was the right tactic. It’s necessary as I don't have the form yet to go full gas the whole hour.
“I think that I could still accelerate with (Eli) Iserbyt in the last two laps, I reached the best possible.
“I'm glad I didn't burn myself out and rode my own race. I was happy with the position I had, and I just tried to hold on to that."
Looking to defend his cyclocross world title, Van der Poel has come into the Christmas period of races in fine form.
The Alpecin–Deceuninck rider took a commanding victory in the previous day’s race at Mol, beating Van Aert by 1:17 and recording a second consecutive win, finishing 27 seconds clear of the chasers in Antwerp – despite first-lap trouble.
“It was impressive how quick Mathieu was back in front again,” Van Aert added. "The feeling is going on an upward trend for the first cross. Today, my feeling is not better than yesterday.”
The previous day in Mol the Jumbo-Visma rider struggled to match Van der Poel technically on the sand and accepted that his rival will be tough to beat this cyclocross season.
Van Aert told In de Leiderstrui after Friday’s race in Mol: "I do expect myself to improve bit by bit in every race. Let's hope that I do. But on the other hand, the way Mathieu is riding now, he is very difficult to beat.
"I'm not disappointed about that, everyone determines how they plan their season for themselves. Mathieu started his preparation much earlier than I did, as I continued racing for a longer time. He probably rested longer than I did, as well. Normally, that's a plausible explanation."
