Sven Nys is proud of his son Thibau Nys' strong climbing performance at Tour de Hongrie: "Every day he pushes his limits"

Thibau Nys winning a stage at Tour de Hongrie? Perfectly imaginable scenario. However winning two stages as well as overall standings is something that left even Thibau's father Sven Nys noticeably surprised. Add a Tour de Romandie mountain stage to the Lidl-Trek rider's list of 2024 palmares and it's clear the Belgian youngster has a hidden climbing talent.

"No, I didn't expect this. We had hoped that he could win a stage. But overall victory is something else entirely. Especially when you see how he was still under pressure in the final stage... That surprises me more than his stage victories. Chapeau," Sven Nys tells HLN.

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"Every day he pushes his limits and we don't know where the ship will end up at a certain moment," says Sven. "Moments like these make you feel that there is more to it. He is evolving more and more into someone who can still excel at the end after difficult climbs. Every week I see things that make me think: 'That's another level'. That's nice to see."

The question now is what the future holds. Although Nys 'senior' mainly wants to keep his feet on the ground. "We cannot skip any steps in the euphoria. He really wants to ride a grand tour, especially to further develop himself. That might have already been possible with the Giro, but I don't think that would have been wise. He will soon have to push his limits again in the Tour de Suisse, a WorldTour level race."

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"It's not easy to control him and he can't handle losing very well. How he came home after Frankfurt, where he couldn't do his sprint... Paul Van den Bosch, his coach, must slow him down more than motivate him. He is gradually realizing that this path is the right path. It is now important to keep a cool head and keep working hard. The latter should certainly not be underestimated: in the last few months after the cross, he was not home much and he did a lot of work. And that is now paying off."

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"He took me to the front of the peloton to close things down" - Thibau Nys gets help from Mark Cavendish en route to Tour de Hongrie success