One moment, you see him multiple times a week, and the next, he has completely disappeared from the radar. Thibau Nys had a busy cyclo-cross winter, with his bronze medal at the Cyclo-cross World Championships in Liévin as the finale. So what has the young Belgian racing for Lidl-Trek and Baloise Glowi Lions been up to since early February? His Instagram page provides the answer…
Nys can rightfully call it a successful cyclo-cross season, which started on October 12 in Beringen and lasted until the World Championships. Over the course of 22 races, he won five times, failed to finish twice, came in second twice, and finished third three times. If you add three more top-five finishes, you end up with thirteen top-five results in 20 completed races.
The highlights of his season were winning the Belgian and European cyclo-cross titles. But he also claimed victory in Benidorm, a highly regarded World Cup race, as well as in Overijse (Superprestige) and the Rapencross (a non-series race). This was his first full season at the elite level, where he truly showed what he was capable of. With Baloise Glowi Lions, the season was wrapped up with smiles on the karting track.
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Right after the World Championships, Nys headed to the snow, just like newly crowned world champion Mathieu van der Poel. The two received some criticism for their trip, but Nys quickly responded with a sunny photo at a ski hut, captioned: "Doing fine here," he wrote with a big smile. After a week of skiing, Nys spent another week relaxing with his girlfriend, friends and family, before shifting his focus back to cycling.
A photo diary reveals Nys as a guest on a TV show, cycling as a guest of James Cooke, posing frequently (alone or with his girlfriend Anna) in front of the mirror, skiing down the slopes, eating in ski lodges, and bowling strikes. And now? Now it’s time to get back to work. "Back to work, the road season is coming, and I want to win," he says confidently.
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Nys was a multiple-time winner on the road in 2024. He made his road debut at the end of April in the Tour de Romandie, where he won a stage right away. He then won two stages and the overall classification in the Tour of Hungary, took a stage win in the Tour of Norway, another in the Tour of Switzerland, and two more in the Tour de Pologne — not to mention his impressive podium finishes in other races.
In short: expectations are high as Nys will once again start his 2025 road season in April. His first scheduled race is the GP Miguel Indurain on April 5, followed by the Tour of the Basque Country leading up to the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He is also slated to race Eschborn-Frankfurt, but there is a possibility he will ride the Giro d’Italia in May — a decision that will be made later.