European Championships not enough for Thibau Nys who seeks more big wins this winter: "I cannot be satisfied with that alone"

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.”

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.”