Thibau Nys is hard on himself despite an incredible Koppenbergcross: ‘Then you're not going to make it’

Wearing the Belgian tricolor, Nys spoke to the press in the mixed zone after the race. “It was stressful,” were the 23-year-old Nys’s first words.

“I felt like I was in control, but every time I started to relax a bit, I took a spill. I kept putting pressure on myself, and that was tough. I always had confidence that I could move up through the pack, but my own mistakes kept getting in the way.”

The various mistakes and the chase that followed defined Nys’s race. “That’s a lack of being at one with the bike and the ground and getting a good feel for everything. I was in a good position on the bike and had control over it. But this is a classic example of how I haven’t spent enough time on the cyclocross bike yet. It wasn’t as if the turns were particularly difficult.”

Until Nys felt he had “the race under control,” as he told IDL Pro Cycling and others. “But because of my own mistakes—and sometimes because of someone else—I lost that control very often. And more often than I would have liked. Then I had to fix it myself.”

In the cyclocross race, Nys was mainly up against himself.

In the final lap, the Belgian champion managed to catch up with Vanthourenhout. A battle ensued over who would take the lead.

On the final cobblestones, Nys manages to pull off a winning sprint. A relief, after a road season without a victory.

“I think I can do a little better, but I’m aware that this Koppenberg isn’t a benchmark for cyclocross in general. This is such a specific race; it says nothing about next week’s European Championship. There, we’ll be starting on a level playing field again.”