Thijs Aerts on his last week's busy schedule: "When I commit to something, I want to show the organizers of the respective race that I am happy to be there"

Last weekend, Thijs Aerts did something last weekend that no other rider in the entire cyclo-cross guild had done: participate in both the Exact Cross of Essen and in the World Cup of Val di Sole the very next day. IDLProCycling spoke to the Belgian ahead of his flight to Italy about his busy schedule.

Additionally, the Belgian finished second behind Ryan Kamp in Rucphen on Thursday. "That was also a nice result. Rucphen was an evening cross, so that took some adjusting. Moreover, I don't have the best eyes, which is not ideal in such a race. But I just made the best of it and ended the day on the podium. Losing to Kamp is certainly no disgrace. He is, after all, one of the great talents in cyclo-cross."

"Immediately after the cyclo-cross here in Essen, I'm taking a flight to Bergamo, and from there, I'll head to Val di Sole. It's going to be quite a special trip. However, I'm confident that it will all work out," he said optimistically.

"I'm not normally in the World Cup selection by default. However, I had already committed earlier on to participating in the races in Rucphen and Essen. And when I commit to something, I want to show the organizers of the respective race that I am happy to be there. After all, they set aside their money for me. That's something I respect. If it's possible to combine them, I was definitely going to race all three. And in this case, it worked out."