European Championships not enough for Thibau Nys who seeks more big wins this winter: "I cannot be satisfied with that alone"
Cycling
Thibau Nys is an incredible rider, and perhaps even within the possibility of evolving such as the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert on the road. But surprisingly in cyclocross he is struggling to get the wins, and aims to win the Belgian national championships this weekend after a two-month drought.
“It is just okay. It is not bad, right. I was on the podium three or four times in a row, which is good. But you just want to win and ride at a high level," Nys said in an interview with Wielerflits. "That is of course a bit of a double standard. Let me put it this way: this is not what I would have been happy with before the season. My European title makes up for a lot of it of course. But I cannot be satisfied with that alone," he explains.
"It is what it is at the moment. If you then also miss such opportunities as in Diegem or Merksplas, those are two wasted victories that could have given my season a bit more shine. In the end I was beaten on value there. But I cannot just be satisfied. Fortunately I still feel quite good, with the Belgian Championship approaching. I also already have a very nice jersey, so I still have something to win.”
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Nys has struggled with inconsistency, the issue that has already plagued him in previous seasons. Whilst recently he's overcome a difficult period that featured a few tumbles to take a few strong results including second behind Mathieu van der Poel in Loenhout, he feels that a rider of his quality should be taking more wins - specially in a year where the field is very equal all around, except for the 'big two'.
Now in Heusden-Zolder he has a fast course that could potentially see him win for the first time since the 10th November in Lokeren. “They sometimes say that road racers have an advantage there, but I don’t know if that’s true. That’s very relative. You just have to have a good day. I know that Heusden-Zolder is a very difficult cross to win," he admits. "And certainly if you are the best rider in the race. It’s really a matter of choosing a moment. And daring to gamble. On the other hand, you also have to be very attentive.”
Alongside him will be a very strong field: “Everyone seems to be on the same level at the moment. Then it really depends on the course and the day to day who will stand out. I think Crelan-Corendon has a very strong block (Laurens Sweeck, Joran Wyseure and Emiel Verstrynge, ed.), Alpecin-Deceuninck (Niels Vandeputte and Jenthe Michels, ed.) can also mean something to each other. Just like the men from Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines (Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout, ed.). It is a matter of swimming in between them and doing my thing, like at the European Championships. It is possible that we will go into the last lap with seven riders.”
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🚵🇧🇪 | 10 punten voor de schoenwissel van Thibau Nys. Als je knippert mis je het 👀👀 #GPSvenNys
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) January 1, 2025
📺Stream cross op HBO Max pic.twitter.com/aRXbEsTZg1
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- You’re both right but also both (me too) biased by this endless indoctrination through the expectations of others (no cyclist is worth mentioning without a tdf legacy) and sorry Fred but the part about him having to win the whole thing is misguided, Cavendish is venerated by most and he might not have even reached 50th in the how many editions he did (about double Merckxs). As rightly said Mathieu rides for HIMSELF (aside obligations) take it or leave it, I really don’t think he (and most others, even Cav or Pog) lie around in bed at night worrying or strategising about how to cement a place in history. We are lucky to witness a period where some of the best cyclists are (aside from money) motivated in the right way, you can often see in the authentic way they celebrate crossing the line after a huge effort, MVDPs are some of the best, 100% dedication, my favourite was the communion with his grandfather when he won that stage, it was visibly (worth seeing again if available) so powerful, I even think the only reason he tried the TdF at all (he’d never really shown any interest personally and I’m pretty sure it was a business “obligation” was in hommage to his grandfather who meant so much to him. Once done I think he realised he doesn’t enjoy it (should he (any of us actually) force himself to do a job he isn’t enjoying?) and saw no more reason to continue but being open he accepted to try something new, lead-out man and did it admirably. His riding career has now probably “peaked” and he’ll want to focus on those things personally still important before it’s too late and leads to regrets. I am sure he’ll regret his luck/carelessness at Olympics more than anything TdF related and among future goals, that will be his number 1 rectification target and sorry for those TdF obsessors (who often watch nothing else all year) but for many the Olympics are more important than eg the Tour, no matter what the majority of cycling thinks, and they have that right.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- To MVDP, even if he wins 10 stages of the TDF, if he can't be overall champion (GC), he still loses.. so he thinks he has nothing to gain. He'd rather win a hundred minor races than frustrate himself trying to win the grandest race of them all. The mindset of a winner, you say? Maybe, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, he's a great cyclist. Monuments and classics, one-day races are his thing. He can ride a one-day 300 km race and win it, but a 3,500 km race spread over 21 days? Forget it.. he can win a stage or two, wear the yellow jersey for a day or two, (no mean feat, by the way) and finish in 50th place just the same, not even good enough for a podium, and he doesn't like it. To him, it's a waste of time.FredMan08-01-2025
- i’m with you on this… ALL IN for the xco world’s. a legacy of World Champion in four disciplines. that’s one for the ages…OCexile08-01-2025
- i’ve said before that i worry for mathieu’s place in history because he only has one tdf stage. cycling pundits place SO much emphasis off tdf wins that many of them still rate wva as superior to van der poel, which can ONLY be based on wout’s 9 tour wins (which impressively DO come over the whole spectrum of tdf parcours). as a fan of mvdp i wish he’d dedicate a couple years to racking up 5 or 6 more stage wins. that said, mathieu matches to his own drummer. he gets bored easily. and ultimately he’s gonna decide all in his own what does and don’t capture his interest and imagination. that’s one of the things i like BEST about him, so if he’s done with the Tour then that’s that, au revoir…OCexile08-01-2025
- I reported this in March of 2024. There was a bogus Facebook ad.davbott08-01-2025
- Does that mean that the Rapho jersey that I just purchased is a fake?
santiagobenites07-01-2025 - Utter rubish, if you think he peaks over 12 times trains, races, rests in 1 year you are living in cuckoo land.Senna196007-01-2025
- All theory, in practice much can happen, Tao won a Giro.Mistermaumau07-01-2025
- Same thing with ASSOS there was a fraudulent site in US, so I contacted ASSOS it’s down now. I don’t like counterfeiters or they bunk products. Call me old fashioned, it’s called honest.JtotheB07-01-2025
- Good on him for saying so; there's more to pro cycling than the Tour. The XCO World title is one still missing, so why not target that? However, Crans-Montana is really technical, and he will need plenty of time training and racing back on the MTB if he's going to go close. We know what happens with poor prep - crashes. This isn't CX, where you can turn up and win - the top MTB riders have got skills and MTB isn't just about watts......wipperman9507-01-2025