Unlike road colleagues Van der Poel or Van Aert, Nys rides twice as many cyclo-crosses: 'He doesn't want to ride only ten cyclo-crosses'

The man in the cross at the moment is Thibau Nys. The Belgian cycling talent has won the last three crosses and only finished two of his seven cyclocross events this winter without finishing on the podium. This coming weekend, however, the 23-year-old Fleming will not be seen in the field: Nys prefers a training camp to the World Cup on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Nys began this cross season with a victory at the Koppenberg. A week later, the Baloise Glowi Lions cyclist took silver at the European cyclocross championships in Middelkerke, Belgium. The highest scaffold was regained in Hamme, where Nys won the Flandriencross. The same happened subsequently in the World Cups of Tabor and Flamanville.

However, Nys is going to miss the third World Cup: Nys will then be training under the Spanish sun. There the crosser and road rider will not only find teammate in the field Lars van der Haar again, but also his road team Lidl-Trek, with whom Nys can do some training sessions. After two weeks, Nys will return to cross in mid-December, probably with the Namen World Cup.

And what will follow? 'A full program up to and including the World Cup,' Baloise Glowi Lions team manager Eric Braes told In de Leiderstrui. After the first weeks of December, Nys will return to the field. 'There will be some crosses in between, but it's not like he'll be skipping a weekend any time soon,' Braes told In Leidersteuve just before Nys left for training camp.

Both the Baloise Glowi Lions team and Braes and Nys want to stick to the schedule of 20 to 22 crosses this season. Isn't that a lot, considering and comparing with other road riders like Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert? 'Not too many,' Braes mused. 'We have a good cooperation with Lidl-Trek, with whom we regularly sit together.'

Whereas Van der Poel and Van Aert limit their winter to a maximum of about ten cyclo-crosses, Nys will ride double that. 'I don't really see a problem in that. He also won't start immediately with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for example,' Braes rebutted. 'The planning is I think he will start again around the Ardennes classics, an Amstel Gold Race for example...'

And so Braes is not under the impression that it will be much too much. 'He's really been without a bike for two weeks now before the cross season. That did him a lot of good. He really needed that, too. But he is ready again. He really wants to keep riding cross-country. He doesn't want to ride only ten crosses, but keeps emphasizing that he wants to ride his winters like now.'

Fortunately, with Baloise Glowi Lions (riding Trek bikes) and Lidl-Trek, Nys has two teams that often speak to each other. 'Then on the road it's seeing how and where courses fit. But Lidl-Trek is along for the ride. They also play him out in the races where they think he has the best chance. That will all work out.'

There aren't many differences, according to Braes, between the cross and road rider Nys and all those other cyclocross champions. 'He does cross training once a week, and then road training the rest. It's the same with other cyclocrossers. He does then do his road training a little more extensively in January, so towards the road season.'

At least in the cross country, Nys will not be seen at the World Cup in Terralba, Italy, on the island of Sardinia. After that, a busy program will follow. 'But we have to cut back there too, because that's so many crosses in ten days. You can't ride all of those. I think if you're going to do that - especially in his case - then at some point in January you're going to be parked up and your body says 'ho.'