"It’s not like I’m brimming with confidence right now"; Thibau Nys mainly hopes to be physically ready for the Tour de France

“It has all gone much faster than expected, and then you start thinking about where your limits are. And now here we are,” Nys reflected. “The Tour was always something for me, something I always followed. But not with the idea that it would be something I would actually do myself, because I was a cyclocross rider.”

“I still remember riding at home with a green jersey and a polka dot helmet, but it always felt like a world away,” said the Belgian. “In 2016, we were at Mont Ventoux when Froome went up on foot. And I also remember that when I was little, I wore a green polo because Tom Boonen wore one too.”

“I’m looking forward to it, but I also don’t really know what to expect,” he admitted honestly. “It’s all very impressive: the staff and the media that are here, all the attention. But I’m not afraid of that. I mainly hope that I’m physically ready. Because I had to drop out of the Baloise Belgium Tour (where Nys caught a stomach virus, ed.), I missed another chance for confirmation, for a mental boost.”

“I missed that confirmation,” Nys repeated, as he suddenly finds himself up against the best riders in the world. “It’s hard to find get that clarity in training as well. Normally you can, but now everything is happening so quickly. You still need a day or two to recover from that illness and so on.”

This spring, the son of Sven Nys faced big names like Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar for the first time, and he will encounter them again in the first week of the Tour. “If I’m at my very best, I can focus on that. If I’m at my very best, that is – but we’ll have to see.”

On stages two, four, six, and seven there are potentially good opportunities for Nys, which he hasn’t scouted yet. “We’ve gone through everything on VeloViewer. They’re tough stages, but it’s definitely going to be very hectic. I think there will be very few calm moments, and that’s new for me too – I’m curious to see how I’ll respond to that.”

“I can’t say right now whether I’ll feel good enough to raise my hand and say: guys, today is all for me,” he explained. “I’m very honest with the team about that, and I’ll be the first to help the others. At this moment, I don’t really know where I stand or what to expect. I can let that go, but it’s not like I’m brimming with confidence right now.”

On day one, Lidl-Trek has a chance for yellow with Jonathan Milan. “I don’t have a spot in his lead-out train, but I do hope I can help them somewhere and contribute my part. If the train is on the rails and the speeds are high, I’ll mostly let them do their thing. We have plenty of all-rounders anyway.”

Positioning is something Nys still struggles with at times. “Being good on the bike and positioning yourself are totally different things, and I notice that for me it often depends on the form I’m in. I’m just going to have to be very sharp, especially because the level is so high. My numbers right now show that it’s not bad, but also not as good as in the spring.”