Herentals, a Kempen market town on the river Nete, has an improbable concentration of cyclocross talent in its birth records: Paul Herygers, Erwin Vervecken, Bart Wellens, and Wout van Aert were all born in the town — four generations of Belgian cyclocross royalty from a single, unassuming place.
Van Aert's connection is still active and visible. The town hosts Herentals Crosst, part of the X²O Badkamers Trophy since 2020, run through Netepark and over the Skiberg — van Aert won the race's first two editions before Mathieu van der Poel took over.
Each July, the post-Tour de France criterium Herentals Fietst draws 25,000 to 30,000 spectators to the Grote Markt, with van Aert — a hometown favourite by birth as much as by results — a recurring headline name on a bill that also includes youth, women's, and adaptive cycling races.
For a place with no mountains and no cobbled monuments, Herentals holds an outsized place in the sport's modern story — proof that in the Kempen, flat terrain and cyclocross talent are not mutually exclusive.
