Baloise Trek Lions boss discusses Thibau Nys season so far: “When the championships are looming, he will certainly be ready"

After his triumph at the European Cyclocross Championships in November, Thibau Nys has struggled to find his top form, facing both bad luck and tactical errors in recent weeks. However, Baloise - Trek Lions team manager Eric Braes remains optimistic about Nys’s prospects for the remainder of the season.

Speaking to Wielerflits, Braes reflected on a recent training camp in Spain that he believes will pay dividends for Nys and the rest of the team. “Everything went well there,” said Braes. “Our riders had good weather there and did a lot of kilometres. That was also the intention. Such a training camp can do wonders for the riders and it was perhaps also necessary.”

Braes highlighted the positive impact the camp had on the riders' morale. "You notice that when those guys go on an internship and you call them after three or four days, they sound completely different than a week before. Then they were complaining about everything, but suddenly they sound positive again. That good weather can do wonders on a physical level, but especially on a mental level. And that was also the case with Thibau."

Nys’s recent struggles began to emerge after a double weekend of racing in Merksplas and Hamme, where things didn’t go according to plan. “Thibau was still okay, but then there was that double weekend Merksplas-Hamme,” Braes explained. “He just didn't make it there and made tactical mistakes. He was still able to win those races, but then he started to doubt. In the sand of Antwerp it was the only and first time that he really had a bad day, for the rest it was more a matter of bad luck and details.”

Despite these setbacks, Braes pointed out that Nys’s dip in form is understandable given the intense training he has undertaken. "Because of those many hours in Spain, it is logical that he still lacks some freshness. But I am sure that Thibau has now laid a solid foundation for the second part of his peak period."

Braes remains confident that Nys will be back to his best when it matters most. “When the championships are looming, he will certainly be ready,” Braes affirmed.