Two-time UCI Cyclocross World Cup Series champion Toon Arts is ready to reclaim the title he missed during the 2020-2021 season. He will be joined by four Valoise Trek Lions teammates to support him in his challenge, which begins Sunday afternoon in Waterloo.

Aerts comes to Wisconsin as the #1 ranked UCI cyclocross rider and has high expectations for the entire year; Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) are on the road calendar will not be part of the Waterloo-Fayetteville-Iowa City rotation.

"They had a busy summer, as did the Tour de France. And now they are preparing for the Road World Championships and Paris-Roubaix. [They're] probably going to be in the end of November or the end of November," Aerts told Cycling News. [They will probably start racing with us at the end of November or beginning of December. At that point they've already done 15 races, so they're not fresh anymore. And they won't be at the top level, so we'll see what the level will be. Every race without them is a big opportunity, a big chance to win."

Van Aert won the overall World Cup last season, with Van der Pol in second place. After winning back-to-back championships in 2018-19 and 2019-20, Aerts found himself in unfamiliar territory, finishing fourth.

This season, the UCI significantly expanded the World Cup series: after 14 scheduled races in 2020-2021, reduced to five due to the COVID-19 epidemic, this year's calendar will feature 16 races in six countries.

Arts is off to a strong start this season and is looking for an early World Cup lead after an early season C1 win last week at the Super Prestige Series opener in Gieten.

"It's going to be busy this year because the season is long and there are 16 World Cup races, compared to 8 or 9 in previous years. There are many weekends with races on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a trip to Italy. [So] we are trying to get as good as we can from last week's Zieten. There were also three C2 races the weekend before. Gieten was the first C1 race on the European schedule. We are looking forward to racing in the US this week."

Aerts likes to make the most of his international expeditions by blocking out three races on his trips to the US. This year, the Waterloo World Cup will be held in Fayetteville on October 13, a first-time World Cup appearance and preview to the World Cup; in 2015, CrossVegas in Nevada joined the World Cup circuit, followed by the Iowa City and Water moved to the Midwest for a tandem event in Looe.

"It's not just one race, as it was in the beginning of the US World Cup at CrossVegas. We have jet lag issues and we have to adapt when we get here, and if it's just one race, it's not easy and it affects our performance in the weeks that follow. Now I have three races to go, so I'm fine and very positive."

For Aerts and his teammates, the showcase this week will be Waterloo. Set amidst a Wisconsin landscape of dairy farms and cornfields, the lap course winds through the Trek property where the team's equipment is designed. The riders look forward to interacting with the people who design their equipment and racing in front of this team.

"It's the opening round of this season's World Cup and it's a double special event for us. For the team, we're here to talk to the new bike engineers and talk to the new wheel manufacturers. For us, it's not just about participating in the race, it's the whole experience of coming to the factory where our bikes are made," the 27-year-old rider said. [It's also nice to meet all the people who have worked on our bikes and produced our bikes, they know us and respect us. We can give feedback in this moment and we can work together to create something new."

Aerts said his career goals are to win titles in the "Grand Slam" of cyclocross - the World, European, and Dutch Championships - and to win the top three race series - World Cup, Superprestige, and X2O Trofee - overall. He has four of those six in hand and is aiming for even more this season.

"Two of them, the X2O Trophy and the World Championship, are still on my bucket list, but I haven't achieved them yet. I'm still on my bucket list, but I haven't accomplished them yet," Aerts said. 'I've won the World Cup twice, but I'm very happy to do it a third time.'