Thibau Nys: "Reality check" after 12th in first World Cup race

Nys has had an inconsistent cyclocross season so far. Illness before the season left him competing on the margins in the early races. However, as the European Championships in Pontevedra approached, he gained strength with each race. He even secured his first win in Overijse and finished fourth in the grueling Koppenberg cyclo-cross race.

A few days later, he claimed the European title in an impressive performance. A week later, he also won in Lokeren. However, his results dipped the following week in Hamme and Merksplas. This was partly due to expending too much energy and being tactically outmaneuvered by the competition. In Merksplas, Nys also suffered a hard crash in the final lap.

A week later in Antwerp, things didn’t improve much. "Once again, I was faced with the reality that I struggle with sandy courses," Nys told VTM Nieuws and others afterward. "I still need to improve a lot in that area. Because of this, I also hit my physical limits today. I could sustain it for about half the race, but after that, I started to fade. I lost a lot of power in the sand, and I couldn’t make up for it."

Nys also had a nasty collision with a post near the pit zone during the race. "It wasn’t anything serious," he reassured those concerned. "I hit it pretty hard, but it wasn’t a big deal." Nys was also asked how he plans to improve in sand races, but he didn’t go into much detail. "Yeah, I really still need to master that. It's not on point yet."

Despite the disappointing results, Nys isn’t panicking. "No, last week I raced two events where I was up there with the best the entire time. Today was less good, condition-wise, but especially technically. A week of training will do me good. On to next week," Nys concluded.