"He can fill Tom Pidcock's place in the three-way battle" – Thibau Nys backed by Belgian national coach to match Van Aert & Van der Poel this winter

Belgian national coach Angelo De Clercq believes Thibau Nys is now capable of joining Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert in a genuine three-way fight at the top of cyclocross this winter.

Speaking to Wielerflits, De Clercq said Nys has reached a level where he can threaten to fill the role previously occupied by Tom Pidcock during the big cross duels.

De Clercq said: “Maybe he can fill the position in the three-way battle that Tom Pidcock has done a few times. If Thibau can follow for half a race, that is already very encouraging for the next few years.”

His assessment reflects growing belief inside the Belgian camp that Nys’s rapid development — marked by a strong run of early-season performances — is pushing him closer to the sport’s two greatest modern riders.

Former world champion Bart Wellens echoed that optimism, while warning against excessive pressure on the 23-year-old. Wellens argued that Nys may not yet be ready to beat Van der Poel outright, but has reached a level where he can genuinely disrupt the world champion’s dominance when the parcours suits him.

Wellens said: “He’s maybe not going to win against Mathieu, but he will make it difficult for him. According to me, Nys should make it a goal to be the first to finally beat Mathieu. That would only be an honour.”

The suggestion that Nys could aim to become the first rider in years to topple Van der Poel in a straight, peak-form confrontation underscores how highly the sport’s leading Belgian voices now rate his potential.

De Clercq’s and Wellens’s comments also mark one of the clearest public endorsements yet that Nys is no longer considered simply a promising young rider — but a genuine threat capable of shifting the balance at the very front of elite cyclocross.