Mario Aerts

Mario Aerts (born 31 December 1974 in Herentals, Belgium) is a former professional road bicycle racer, who competed between 1996 and 2011. He competed for three teams: Vlaanderen 2002, and the Lotto team through various sponsorships, competing with that particular team for twelve seasons during his career. During this time, he raced in the Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Vuelta a España. In the 2007 cycling season, he finished in these three major stage races in cycling. He was only the 25th racer in the history of cycling to achieve this.

Aerts won the Grand Prix d'Isbergues in 1996, Circuit Franco Belge in 2001, the Giro della Provincia di Lucca in 2001, and most notably La Flèche Wallonne in 2002; he did not win a professional race after that. In June 2011, he announced his retirement as a professional cyclist at the end of the year, citing heart problems as the major cause. After retiring he would become an assistant for the team he rode for under its present name: Lotto-Soudal.

Major results

1994 1st Stage 6 Tour de Wallonie 1995 2nd Overall Tour de Wallonie 1996 1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues 9th Tour du Haut Var 1997 1st Overall Circuit Franco-Belge 1st Mountains classification 5th Overall Circuito Montañés 9th Overall Regio-Tour 10th Overall Tour de Wallonie 1998 2nd Le Samyn 6th Veenendaal–Veenendaal 7th Japan Cup 9th Gran Premio de Llodio 1999 3rd Overall Route du Sud 3rd La Flèche Wallonne 4th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 4th Grand Prix Breitling 2000 5th La Flèche Wallonne 5th GP Ouest-France 2001 1st Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca 3rd Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt 4th GP Miguel Induráin 4th Tour du Haut Var 5th GP Ouest-France 6th Overall Paris–Nice 9th Züri-Metzgete 2002 1st La Flèche Wallonne 3rd GP Miguel Induráin 5th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 8th Overall Critérium International 9th Overall Paris–Nice 2004 6th Veenendaal–Veenendaal 2006 3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 2007 9th Brabantse Pijl 2008 8th Road race, Olympic Games