Sven Nys cheers: why heavily protected Thibau flies on "innovative" lime-green bike (with chain issues)

Sven Nys is running around in good spirits these days. The cyclo-cross legend saw his son Thibau become European champion in the field last Sunday, and his team, Baloise Trek Lions, is having an excellent season anyway, on a more than eye-catching lime-green bike. The fact that top talent David Haverdings missed out on a European Championship title in the U23 due to a broken chain is even put in a positive light during a lengthy interview with IDLProCycling.com  

To get right to the point: the chain failure at the European Championships. I imagine there have already been some talks with SRAM?

"We are internally investigating what we can do in the future, but these are not things we will communicate now. They are issues that happen occasionally when you start reviewing things. But not an issue that we need to worry about. Unfortunately, it happens, especially in competitions. It may happen with other brands at slightly less significant moments, but it remains a mechanical sport in which you must deal with bad luck every time."

You mentioned that you already had problems when you started with this new set from SRAM. Was that also about chain breakages or other things?

"That was indeed the same thing that happens every year. However, it can also be coincidental, so we have to investigate it further. I can't give any details because we are looking at it internally."

Did you have to put a lot of energy into cheering up David Haverdings after his pretty dramatic final round?

"No, not really. That's because, in recent years, David was someone who, in championships, did not always make the most of his performance. Sometimes, this was due to circumstances that he was not feeling good conditionally. But sometimes, it is also because of the pressure he puts on himself. Of course, there was disappointment, but what stuck with him at the end of his European Championships race was the confirmation that he could fight to the finish to win a title. That did him quite well. He got a huge boost from that."

Did he need that boost so much?

"David just had a lot of bad luck physically last year, which ruined his cyclo-cross season. If you look at his preparation and the fact that he has become stronger and more confident, he is a pure cyclist. He's only 20 years old, and there has to be progression every year, but that step has been huge now. Sunday, we got confirmation of what we had been seeing for a few months. He's ready to get into racing in that U23 category, even if there aren't a lot of opportunities for that anymore. This was the first one, and he was spot on immediately."

Continue reading below the photo

David Haverdings is comforted after his lost European Championship battle

Thibau Nys surprised father Sven yet again

How many glasses of red wine did it end up being Sunday night?

"Hahaha, two. And that was enough; I fell asleep soundly."

Now, a few days after the European Championship, in retrospect, are you still quite surprised by Thibau Nys's performance?

"Gosh, on the one hand, yes, and on the other hand, no. Of course, we have already seen what he can do on the road and in the cyclo-cross over the past few months. However, that illness disrupted the preparation, so we had to wait and see if the puzzle would fall together in time. He has shown that he knows which path to take to get the maximum out of it. It was all uncertain, but in the cyclo-cross, we soon saw that it was working as it should. Thibau performs very well under pressure, and this was confirmed once again. The first time at an elite championship was again of a different magnitude."

You said in interviews that you guys have to watch how much Thibau does, and Paul Herygers warned him that he had better take it easy. How do you guys slow Thibau down in the upcoming period?

"That's mainly in the attention he gets, which takes a lot of energy during the week. Thibau agrees that it's all about training, eating, and sleeping. Everything else involved and the requests thrown at him are where he wants to preserve as much energy as possible. That's also wearing the name. He gets offers to stop by daily on TV and radio shows, but we must focus on what is important. That is on his performance. His physical condition will deteriorate quickly if he starts doing things he doesn't want to be doing. That is his biggest concern, so we must protect him as best we can. Interviews are possible, but we will need to manage that well. We take that responsibility because his freshness and fitness will keep this form in the coming weeks."

The Nys name will only become more significant for the Belgians if Van der Poel and Pidcock decide not to compete this winter, and Van Aert only comes to watch at the end of December...

"Yes. We know very well what we must do regarding training, eating and sleeping. But the impact around that, magnifying the good and bad things, also affects his performance. So it's not only physically very clever what he's doing now, but also that he's dealing with it like that mentally. That's not always obvious; I admire that."

Read more below the photo.

Thibau Nys celebrates his European Championship title

Baloise Trek Lions involves riders in creating new bike

Back to the material for a moment because besides the chain failures, cyclo-cross riders say you are riding around with much faster material this year. What stands out is the lime green frame. Where did that idea come from?

"Actually, that was a little idea from Trek, who wanted to promote this bike and its color. I have to say I like it when I see them cycling through the field. It's eye-catching because we have always used blue in our colors in recent years. Now, we are taking that completely out of context, and I think Trek made a bold choice in that, which nevertheless beautifully comes into its own. Despite not matching our jerseys, they match very well with what we represent: innovative, striking, and attracting young people. It looks like the whole bike is stuck with tattoos, but it's spray-painted. It brings rejuvenation to our bikes."

The dark blue variant is also still available; we saw Lucinda Brand, in particular, choose that a lot. Is that a decision the riders have to make?

"Yes, every rider has two green and two blue bikes. They can play around with that a bit."

Is Thibau's bike painted white and blue after his European title?

'"hat won't happen right away. The blue bike fits nicely with that championship jersey anyway, but he won't object to using the green bike in his European colors, either. So we're not going to make any immediate adjustments to that."

Finally, about the speed. In what aspects has your bike become faster?

"Then we return to the new group from SRAM, which has made the bike much lighter and improved the braking capacity enormously. The shifting is also a tad faster, and if your bike is lighter but keeps the same sturdiness, you'll be able to accelerate faster and so on. In recent years, we've also put some extra aerodynamics into our bikes, which is coming into its own. Regarding cyclo-cross and innovation, we've made huge progress with Trek, having had four bike editions since 2013. We are unique in that Trek has made investments in the cyclo-cross bike. No other brand has done that, and that's nice that they continue to believe in that."

So jumping over such a 40-centimeter European Championship barrier is also easier with such a bike?

"Yes. But also when turning on and carrying the bike. Moreover, we use our riders to improve our bikes in the future. We are already talking about the next generation of cyclo-cross bikes. That's nice, having a rider involved in getting a new bike. No real Thibau bike; we need the whole team's knowledge to create something extraordinary."

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])      

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