Utter dominance on Koppenberg, but Nys explains why new European title will be a problematic task

No one could touch Thibau Nys on Saturday. It was maybe expected that he’d perform well in his first cross of the winter, but the dominance with which he grabbed victory on the Koppenberg was still striking. The Belgian is clearly in form — and he’ll need to be, with the European Championships coming up next week where he’ll try to defend his title.

By the end of the first lap, Nys — who had to make up ground after a slow start — was already at the front of the race. Once he took over the lead, he never let it go again. With an incredible display of raw power, he rode everyone off his wheel, and apart from a strong Cameron Mason, the other were left trailing more than a minute behind.

But it wasn’t as easy as it looked. 'It might have seemed that way, but I really suffered, for sure,' Nys said in the post-race flash interview. 'I had to fight myself for an hour. I was in control, which is what I wanted, but it was an hour right on the limit. I’ll tell you — the moment you let your focus drop a little to try and save some energy, mistakes creep in.'

That much was clear: especially in the opening laps, Nys made his fair share of errors. A few times he came close to crashing, but luckily managed to stay upright. Later in the race, once he’d extended his lead, the rhythm settled in and he could ride a bit more safely — eventually crossing the line twenty seconds ahead of Mason.

With a win in his very first cross of the season, Nys couldn’t have asked for a better start. 'It's a proper way to start the season,' he smiled. 'This was one of the big goals already of the cyclocross-season, to start off with a win is incredible. It's my second win here on the Koppenberg, in really nice conditions - I did what I had to do.'

Next week, Nys hopes to defend his European title. Last year he took the win on a relatively easy course in Spain, but this time the lap laid out in Middelkerke will be much tougher — right by the sea, which means sand. And with a sand specialist like Laurens Sweeck in the mix, Nys knows he’ll have to be careful.

He admits sand isn’t exactly his strong suit. He will have to focus on that aspect for the oncoming week. 'I think I’ll have to,' he said. 'My sand skills aren’t that great, so even with this shape it’s going to be be a really, really difficult to win the European championships again. The shape is there, that’s all I can do. We will just have to see how it goes, I think it will be even more difficult than winning today.'