Thibau Nys stays calm amid criticism in Belgium: "Oof, if you say that beforehand..."

Nys has had an inconsistent cyclo-cross season so far. Illness before the season kept him from competing at his best in the early races. However, as the European Championships in Pontevedra approached, he gained strength with each race. He even secured his first win in Overijse and finished fourth in the grueling Koppenberg cyclo-cross race. A few days later, he claimed the European title in an impressive performance. A week later, he also won in Lokeren.

The downturn — if you can even call it that — began in Merksplas and Hamme. On Saturday, Nys was upset with himself, saying he had been "too passive." In Hamme, a day later, he crashed into a post in the pit zone during the final lap and finished the race battered and bruised. The fact that he seemed to be back to his best during the opening laps in Antwerp on Sunday initially looked promising. However, in the second half of the race, his ambitions quickly evaporated.

"Once again, I was faced with the reality that I struggle with sandy courses," Nys told VTM Nieuws and others after the race. "I still need to improve a lot in that area. Because of this, I also hit my physical limits today. I could sustain it for about half the race, but after that, I started to fade. I lost a lot of power in the sand, and I couldn’t make up for it."

Nys also had a nasty collision with a post near the pit zone during the race. "It wasn’t anything serious," he reassured those concerned. "I hit it pretty hard, but it wasn’t a big deal." Nys was also asked how he plans to improve in sand races, but he didn’t go into much detail. "Yeah, I really need to start mastering that. That's not on point yet."

Despite the disappointing results, Nys isn’t panicking. "No, last week I raced two events where I was up there with the best the entire time. Today was not as good, form-wise, but especially technically. A week of training will do me good. On to next week," Nys concluded. Sporza analyst Paul Herygers supported Nys’s perspective: "Thibau showed up; I thought he rode very well. He kept up for half an hour in a sandy race, which isn’t his strength. If he had the same legs in, for example, Overijse, he would have easily been on the podium."

However, Bart Wellens took a more critical stance for Het Nieuwsblad. "I was unpleasantly surprised by Nys on Sunday. If you skip Saturday’s race, it’s with the intention of performing well on Sunday. Thibau just wasn’t good enough. He says he can’t ride well in sand. Oof, if you say that beforehand, why go to Antwerp? He can ride in sand — he can compensate with his strength just fine. At his level, he should have done a better job. He shouldn’t doubt himself."

"Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but this was a subpar performance from Thibau," concludes Wellens, who finds Nys highly inconsistent. "I find it strange that with Thibau, it’s either all or nothing from one week to the next. I had very high expectations, and he does meet them occasionally. But there are still too many bad days in between. For Thibau Nys, a 12th place is simply not good enough. Let's hope he can get a sandpit installed in the backyard of his father Sven as soon as possible."

Since Nys junior hasn’t been able to perform in such demanding races just yet, Herygers isn’t expecting miracles in the next race either. "I'm not expecting too much to change by next week in Dublin. The riders will face a very muddy and heavy course in Ireland. Those flashes of brilliance from Nys need to return, though, because in three weeks, the big names will step in," he says, possibly referring to Mathieu van der Poel.

Niels Albert, analyst for Het Laatste Nieuws and former cyclo-cross champion, also noticed Nys struggling in the sandpit. "You can work on it, train yourself technically to improve," he suggested. "Like Eli Iserbyt, who built a sandpit in his backyard in Kaster and rides through it constantly. He’s clearly reaping the benefits now — he was so strong and agile at Sint-Anneke!"

"Admittedly, Thibau Nys’s performance on the sand sections in Antwerp wasn’t great," Albert continued. "Still, I can’t shake the feeling that he should be able to handle that too. It might not become his absolute specialty, and in a really sandy race, he might always struggle a bit more to win against riders who are truly skilled in it. But someone as technically gifted as he is will soon find ways to mask those weaknesses, I’m convinced of that. By the way, I don’t think he faded on Sunday just because of his struggles in the sand. Thibau seemed to have had a more general off day. It happens."