Thibau Nys leads strong Lidl-Trek for Tour of Norway with two uphill finishes

Thibau Nys strong showing at Tour de Hongrie fits the young Belgian into a favourite role also for the upcoming Tour of Norway with two uphill finishes and two stages that should lead into a bunch arrival.

"A very tough stage is on the menu on day two. The real climbers have a big advantage there. Thibau is doing very well and also showed in Hungary that he can hold his own uphill, but he is not a pure climber. We have to wait and see whether another pure climber shows up and whether Thibau can continue the same level of form as in Hungary. We are aiming for stage victories with Thibau rather than the classification being our primary goal," says sports director Kim Andersen.

"Thibau is undeniably our leader. The first and last ride must suit him very well. In principle, he should also be able to handle the sprint on day three, but it could be that we also give another young rider a chance on day three or day four," says Andersen.

By another young rider, he must be referring either to the Czech champion Mathias Vacek or the Eritrean Natnal Tesfatsion. Vacek is an all-rounder who handles well the bunch sprint chaos but can also do well on longer climbs, meanwhile Tesfatsion is an explosive rider, very similar to Nys in profile.

"Vacek was already racing quite strongly in Hungary and should normally have taken another step higher in terms of fitness level. Tesfatsion can also hold his own in stages three and four. Thibau is in principle our leader, but suppose Thibau has already won on day one and has no chance of winning overall after day two, there is a good chance that we will give Vacek and Tesfatsion a chance to go for their own success."

Thibau Nys
Dario Cataldo
Fabio Felline
Jacopo Mosca
Natnael Tesfatsion
Mathias Vacek