Second place Wyseure forced to admit defeat to merciless Nys: 'Should I play or not?'

Wyseure was actually on top of his game the entire race. He was always well-positioned and was the first to respond to Nys’s initial surge halfway through the race. Once it was just the two of them, Wyseure seemed to be the stronger rider, especially on the technical sections. In the final lap, he had to concede defeat thanks to a strong sprint by Nys on the stairs.

He couldn't close the gap that had opened up in the final minutes of the race. “On the final lap, I could feel on the stairs that Thibau was the strongest,” Wyseure told Sporza after the race. “So I have to be satisfied with silver. My legs were completely spent. I just didn't have anything left.”

Going into that final round, Wyseure was absolutely confident that he could bring the European Championship to a perfect conclusion. “Still, I think I had the race perfectly under control until the final lap. I felt good. I’d recovered well after Middelkerke,” he says of the final test before the European Championships, which he won. “And today, I actually felt great.”

But it was precisely riding alongside Nys at the end that went a bit wrong for the 25-year-old man from Lichtervelde. With the chasers not far behind, he let himself get a little carried away. “I think I let myself get a little carried away. The group behind us, with Nieuwenhuis, wasn’t far back. I had mixed feelings: should I take a chance and wait, or not?”

However, the silver medal is also a wonderful testament to the fantastic progress Wyseure has made. This season, he’s competing against the absolute world’s best. “I felt ready to compete for the win. I’m glad I did. If I’d said a few years ago that I’d finish second at a European Championship, I would have thought I was crazy.”

And so the disappointment gives way to positive feelings. “In a way, I have to be proud of myself. I think I should be happy with how I rode, but it’s still a little too soon to be truly satisfied. Thibau is a great champion. He definitely deserves it—he was incredibly strong today, too. He climbed that hill super fast.”

National team coach Angelo De Clercq also emphasizes that Wyseure has made great strides. He sees his protégé as a prime example. “Incredible. The way he approaches his sport sets an example for young people. He continues to make progress every year. I think many people can look up to the way Joran lives his sport—it’s truly wonderful.”