Belgian star Thibau Nys is set to kick off his cyclocross season this weekend, with a double programme of the iconic Koppenbergcross and the X2O Trofee in Lokeren, and he doesn't just want to ease into things.
A talent in both CX and road racing, Nys has spent a busy year racing on the road for Lidl-Trek, taking one victory in the spring and making his Tour de France debut in the summer.
Despite balancing his ambitions on the road – where he only wrapped up racing at the end of August – Nys is racing a long cyclocross season, starting on Saturday. He will have only missed two weekends of racing, and starts much earlier than his multidiscipline counterparts like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
"Still, watching Overijse and Ruddervoorde from the sofa broke my heart," he told Nieuwsblad and other Belgian media at his final training session this week, with his coach saying that Nys had wanted to start the Superprestige in Overijse.
"But if I don't do it [start later], I wouldn't stop at all."
The delay has, he said, made him all the more eager to get going, however. Whilst some riders, especially those who race on the road too, take some time to get back into the rhythm of cyclocross, Nys is clear that he wants to hit the ground running.
Starting at the Koppenbergcross round of the X2O Trofee, an iconic event that he won in 2023, and his father Sven won nine times, it's not surprising that he would ideally like to start with a victory.
"I feel like I'm ready, but that's no guarantee of success," he said to Nieuwsblad. "Let me put it this way: this isn't a race to just get into the swing of things. I'm starting with the ambition to win and I want to win right away. But I don't expect to win. Although I do consider that I can win."
Set on the famous Koppenberg climb, the Koppenbergcross is a very physically demanding course, and perhaps less technical, which Nys sees as a good place to start.
"Because on such a tough course, fitness is much more decisive than the specific technique required for cyclocross," he said. "I think it's possible I'll win on Saturday on the Koppenberg and be ridden home in Lokeren on Sunday."
Nys made his Grand Tour debut in the summer, and although he had a difficult time at the Tour – he said he spoke to fellow CX rider Emiel Verstrynge during the race not about CX, but about "the misery we'd brought upon ourselves to start the Tour" – the training involved to be able to ride the race has affected him as CX rider.
"The many long endurance training sessions on the road have somewhat dulled my peak power," he admitted.
"Both in terms of explosiveness and technique, staying sharp will be a priority in the coming years. I'm already noticing that I've had to invest more in that than before."
As for his immediate goals, Nys' coach told Het Laaste Nieuws that "everything points to him being very good" but that the 22-year-old still needs to take a step up. For the rider himself, that just means outperforming his results from last winter.
"I'd like to win more than last season – I won five then – and I'd also love to defend one of my two titles," he said. He won the European and Belgian Championships last winter.
"But I realise the European Championships will be difficult. Even if I clean up everything this weekend, it still won't be easy in the sand at Lombardsijde."
