Thibau Nys passes important test with flying colors, but withdraws from Baloise Belgium Tour the next day

Two years ago, Nys already placed well in a punchy prologue at the Tour of Norway, but in his view, he has also lost too much time in time trials. In races like the Tour of Wallonia and the Tour of Poland, strong general classification positions remained just beyond reach due to weak performances against the clock, and he wants to change that over time.

On Friday, he placed twelfth in the 9.7-kilometer time trial of the Baloise Belgium Tour, finishing ahead of noted time trialists like Yves Lampaert, Josef Cerny, and teammate Søren Kragh Andersen. Coach Paul Van den Bosch and former high jumper Tia Hellebaut — who was sitting on a terrace just steps away from the Lidl-Trek team bus — both praised his performance.

Thibau, how are you feeling after this time trial?
"I'm very satisfied. I may have lost a couple of seconds here and there, but overall I'm really happy with the time trial I did today. I didn’t care much about the final placing, actually. I just felt like I made a big step forward in my time trial journey.

I really worked on my position on the time trial bike for the first time and it paid off. I paced the effort perfectly. There wasn’t anything more I could have added or gained. I got the maximum out of it. There are still some things to improve, but this was a good step, and I definitely would have signed off on this outcome in advance."

Have you worked on it a lot in recent weeks?
"‘A lot’ is relative, but more than ever. I could never really unleash my power on a time trial bike, and my position wasn’t fast. Now I have a new position and I can fully use my power. I’ve done multiple training sessions in the past few weeks and it really feels like it’s paid off."

You lost 24 seconds to winner Ethan Hayter, and even less to Filippo Ganna. How do you see that?
"Beforehand I had said I would be very happy if I finished within 30 seconds of the winner and I stand by that. I don't know if I will be able to make up for it on Saturday, because those guys also know how to climb and make it through that stage. My primary goal is the stage win, and we’ll see afterward if the general classification is still possible.

But I’d have to get away solo, and I don’t think that’s very realistic. I’d need to pull off a stunt like Mathieu van der Poel did two years ago, and I’m not just going to drop those guys. Everything would really have to go perfectly. And just winning the stage is already a big challenge."

What did you and your coach discuss afterward?
"That everything was perfect. Maybe I left a tiny bit of time here and there in the corners, but I definitely would have signed off on this outcome beforehand. Seeing the time and energy you invested into something pay off, that’s the most beautiful thing. I’m even happier with this than I was with my win in Gippingen last week."

When did you make the decision to focus more on time trialing?
"All in good time. My races and training are close together, and then there’s cyclo-cross on top of that. So it’s hard to put a lot of time and energy into it. But now I have a good position. It’s a very nice start toward eventually finishing races like this with a strong result in the general classification."

What did you change about your position?
"I got a custom handlebar and we changed some details like the height of the handlebar, the cranks... all sorts of things. The most important thing is that I now have a fixed position. Before, it was still trial and error. Once you’ve got that, only then can you really start to benefit from it."

Your team has a lot of time trial expertise too, right? With people like Michael Rogers—three-time world champion—and materials specialist Koen de Kort?
"As a team, we’ve made huge strides in time trialing in general over the past two years. You saw that with Daan Hoole in the Giro, and I think everyone is developing in that area. I’m really happy with the team behind me. Everything has to come together, and you have to be ready to suffer. But today, everything went perfectly."

With Thursday’s strong time trial, Nys looked like one of the favorites for the overall win, especially since Friday’s stage seemed made for him. The stage in and around Durbuy features nearly 3,000 meters of climbing and lots of steep hills. But Lidl-Trek announced via social media that he, along with Tim Declercq, would not be starting. "Unfortunately, Thibau and Tim felt ill during the night. Due to stomach and intestinal issues, they will not start Stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour."

Earlier, Alex Kirsch had also dropped out for the American team; the Luxembourger abandoned during Stage 2. Only Kristian Egholm, Héctor Álvarez, Tim Torn Teutenberg, and Søren Kragh Andersen remain in the race for the team. Among them, the Danish rider is best positioned, 13th place overall, 23 seconds behind leader Ethan Hayter.