Baloise - Trek Lions manager furious after mechanical issues cost them two medals at Euros: "Chains are not supposed to fail when a rider puts a lot of force on the pedals"

Baloise - Trek Lions won gold thanks to Thibau Nys at the European Cyclocross Championships in Pontevedra, but more medals were up in the air in the youth categories where bad luck stood in the Belgians' way.

Both Arthur Van Den Boer and David Haverdings saw a medal slip through their fingers due to material failure. Both broke their chains. Coincidence? Team manager Sven Nys admits in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws that there had already been some problems with the material earlier this year. 

"We started the day badly with a lot of material problems," says Sven Nys, referring to the chain breaks of Van Den Boer and Haverdings. Van Den Boer could forget about a bronze medal in the juniors because of his broken chain, while Haverdings saw his chance of the U23 title go up in smoke because of the same problem.

"We are riding with a new derailleur groupset from SRAM this season, which we have already had problems with during training," Nys explains. "They addressed those problems, delivered new chains and then the problem was gone, but apparently not. We need to investigate that: chains are not supposed to fail when a rider puts a lot of force on the pedals."

Sven Nys was afraid that his son Thibau would also have chain problems during the elite race after the misfortune of Van Den Boer and Haverdings. "I shouted at Thibau during every passage in the material post that he had to be careful. 'Don't use too much force when pulling up. You might break your chain.'"

Caution was indeed required, Thibau confirms. "With two laps to go, I changed gear and my chain fell between the spokes and the cassette. I thought for a moment that it was over, but it is a matter of staying calm." And he stayed calm. Nys junior stayed ahead with Felipe Orts, defeated the Spaniard in the final lap and thus crowned himself European champion.