Thibau Nys and his coach issue firm warning ahead of cyclo-cross season debut

After a difficult road season, Nys is ready for cyclo-cross. He looked fit and said he feels that way too. “I'm really excited, which is normally a sign that I'm ready,” he said ambitiously. The young Belgian, who saw his teammate Lars van der Haar announce his retirement on Wednesday, is not shying away from the pressure to perform.

Nervous? “Yes, that's starting to kick in,” said Nys, who doesn't want to call a little pressure and butterflies in his stomach “negative stress.” He wants to be there right away on the Koppenberg, not ease into it. “It's just a goal, and I want to win there. Everyone expects that from me now, too.”

For someone who completed his last road race on August 31, Nys had plenty of time to prepare for the cyclo-cross winter. The images from a social media video were certainly not intended to make a statement about his good form, but “I hope I can confirm that this coming weekend.”

As if the external pressure weren't enough, Nys is now more than happy to put pressure on himself. "In a way, I like that it's expected of me. It's a sign that I've already achieved something, so I see it as a positive. Still, I maintain that it won't be easy. There are several very strong men competing. I'll have to be at 100% to win."

“I feel like I've done what I had to do,” he continued. "I just feel really good. I've put in the right amount of effort in my basic fitness to have a good cyclo-cross season. I hope it pays off from the first weekend and not after a few races, because every race is important. The signs are very positive, but I can't blindly assume that everything will be okay. “

"Let the cyclo-cross season begin, it's been long enough,” concluded Nys, who has also impressed his trainer Paul Van Den Bosch recently. "He is very eager. Thibau actually wanted to start in Overijse, but he had just returned home from the team days with Lidl-Trek in Germany. It would have taken too much training effort. It's also a conscious choice to start on the Koppenberg."

Van Den Bosch also finds it difficult to deny that Nys is in good shape. 'Everything indicates that he is very good, but it still has to happen in the race. The proof of the eating is in the pudding. Mind you, I have no doubts. But a cross is different from training. We'll only see where he really stands on the Koppenberg.

So, let's keep our options open, but you can bet we'll see Nys on fire. His team hopes and expects that he can now really dominate behind Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. “But the step from what he was last season to being dominant is a big one.” Nys himself said about this on HLN: “I think it has to happen and that I have to be there, but we mustn’t forget that the level is very high. It won’t be the case that I win everywhere with ease.”